Happy Independence Day: 7 Indian tech personalities you should know about

By Anusha Sinha This Independence Day, let us take a moment to honour the scientists from our nation who have made significant contributions in their fields. Coming from humble backgrounds and fighting their way to greatness, these scientists have made a mark for India in the global scientific community. You might have heard of some of these legends while others have remained under the radar. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (1931-2015)  “Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.” An author, aerospace scientist, professor and a skilled statesman, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A.P.J.” Abdul Kalam continues to inspire millions across the country. He was a Bharat Ratna (1997), Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Padma Bhushan (1981) awardee. Kalam graduated from Madras Institute of Technology and went on to work at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) where he designed a small hovercraft. However, his greatness shone through only when he was transferred to ISRO. He was the project director of our nation’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and played a major part in the test-run of five nuclear missiles called Pokhran-II. Even after retirement from his Presidency, where he made a mark for himself as the ‘People’s President’, he continued teaching at several institutes. He passed away due to a stroke which occurred when he was climbing the stairs at IIM Shillong and his last words were to his aide Srijan Pal, “Funny guy! Are you doing well?” His is a formidable legacy which is made even more precious because of how humble and grounded he was a person. Homi J. Bhabha (1904-1966)  “My success will not depend on what A or B thinks of me. My success will be what I make of my work.” Homi J. Bhabha, known as the ‘Father of Atomic Energy’ in India started his career studying nuclear physics in the United Kingdom. He went on to serve as the director of the nuclear program on Nehru’s request and was instrumental in convincing the incumbent government leaders to start India’s nuclear programme. Bhabha helped establish the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research to explore the fundamental problems of physics, both theoretical and experimental. This institute aims at the development and progress of indigenous nuclear scientists. Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971)  “He who can listen to music in the midst of the noise can achieve great things” Vikram Sarabhai was instrumental in setting up several scientific institutes in quick succession after Independence. He established the Physical Research Laboratory in November 1947 which started off with research on the topic of cosmic rays. We owe all of India’s achievements in space exploration and travel to him, for he convinced the Government of the need to establish a space program. He created the Indian Space Research Organisation with the support of Homi Bhabha and many others. He started the project which eventually led to the launch of Aryabhatta, India’s first satellite. He was also a key collaborator in the setting up of the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad. His interests varied across dance, sports and statistics and he even held the position of Vice-President at the Fourth U.N. Conference on ‘Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy’. Har Gobind Khorana (1922-2011) [caption id=“attachment_329781” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: MIT[/caption] “Everything that human beings or living animals do is done by protein molecules. And therefore the kind of proteins that one has and therefore the ability one has is determined by the genes that one has.” Har Gobind Khorana was born in a small village in Punjab and worked his way from learning his lessons under a tree at the age of four to receiving a fellowship at Cambridge University. The famed (and sometimes dreaded) dedication of Indian parents to provide a good education to their offspring is what enabled Khorana to learn to read in a village that did not even have a school (Until his father set one up, that is). Khorana’s work related to the decoding of genes won him the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1968. He founded the Khorana Foundation which works to create social entrepreneurs across United States and India. Piara Singh Gill (1911-2002)  Piara Singh Gill was a nuclear physicist who worked in the field of cosmic rays and contributed to the American Manhattan project. He left India to pursue an education in the States in 1929 and worked on obtaining his PhD in Physics at the University of Chicago. Among his friends, he counted Jawaharlal Nehru, Robert Oppenheimer and Homi J. Bhabha, the last of which he founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research with. He was the first Director of Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO) of India. He also advised Nehru on India’s nuclear weapons strategy in the mid-twentieth century. Satyendra Nath Bose (1894-1974)  “You don’t know who he was? Half the particles in the universe obey him!” - A reply by a physics professor when a student asked who Bose was. Born in a state famed for its cultural and academic achievements, Bengali Satyendra Nath Bose was a physicist famed for his work in quantum mechanics. Bose blew away none other than Einstein with his work in coming up with a new kind of statistics which is known today as Bose-Einstein statistics. He was a polyglot and was well-versed in Bengali, Sanskrit, German, English and French. He had a fine sense of appreciation for the poetry of Lord Tennyson, Kalidasa and Rabindranath Tagore. He narrowly missed a Nobel Prize although Nobels have been given for continuing the work that he started. However, he was never bitter about it as the assurance that his name will live on in scientific discussions for years to come was more important to him than an award. He was passionate about propagating the use of Bengali and translated several papers into the language to that effect. Manjul Bhargava (1974-current) [caption id=“attachment_329784” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: Office of Communications, Princeton[/caption] “Students should not be taught to solve problems in a robotic way; instead, they should be guided to discover key mathematics ideas on their own. Maths should be a creative, exciting process of discovery!” Manjul Bharagava made history by becoming the first Person of Indian Origin to receive the prestigious Fields Medal which is known as the Nobel for mathematics. He drew on the work of ancient Indian mathematicians and the Rubik’s cube to solve a two-hundred-year-old problem called the Gauss classical law in a simpler way than the original proof. He has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan, among a host of other notable awards. His mother was a professor of Mathematics and doubled as his first teacher which meant that he had already completed his high school math syllabus by the time he was 14. He is deeply interested in Sanskrit poetry and inherits his love for the language from his grandfather who taught Sanskrit in Rajasthan.