VIKRAM SARABHAI'S 100TH: WORDS FROM THE AWARD-WINNING LEADER'S 1971 SPEECH REMAIN IMPORTANT FOR INDIA TODAY
Editor's Note: On 10 April 1971, at the Silver Jubilee Celebration of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the father of India's Space program Dr Vikram Sarabhai was invited to take the stage and share a few words as the Guest of honor. He spoke of the role Tata Institute of Fundamental Research plays in the country's biggest atomic energy program (the Atomic Energy Commission, of which Sarabhai was the President 1966–1971) and the importance of institutes of national import to freely-interact in clusters with others important institutions to address the needs of a developing nation like India. Your Excellency, Mr Tata, Prof Menon and friends, I speak here on behalf of the Atomic Energy Commission of India with admiration, gratitude, pride, and expectation as Panditji said, "This Institution has been the cradle of Atomic Energy in India", and it is through the agency of one single person: Homi Bhabha, that we saw during the early p...