Ignited Minds (4 page)

At the dawn of the new millennium came the news that the human genome had been decoded. All the 30,000 genes that human beings carry today, we are told, are identical to those of our Stone Age ancestors who lived thousands of years ago. One of the traits that has come down to us from them, along with others that are needed for survival, is the desire for achievement.

It is said that nature gave us this instinct because the need to achieve, like the need to reproduce, the need to eat, the need to drink and the need to breathe, is simply too important to be left to chance. History shows the hunger for achievement is a highly evolved one and undoubtedly the strongest one. We tend to forget it but it underlines much of our experience. Most important, without it, how would we learn and grow, aspire to greater perfection?

I have seen Dr Vikram Sarabhai’s vision succeeding over three decades through
sustained and coordinated achievement. At work in that and any other endeavour was this same desire to exceed the limits. As we try and excel, role models play a guiding role. The power of Vikram Sarabhai was such that others took up his vision and completed it long after he was no more. For you it could be someone else whom you admire–a sportsperson, a teacher, a successful entrepreneur.

I recently had the chance to meet a legendary personality, a role model herself. Lata Mangeshkar was presiding over a function in remembrance of her father, Master Deenanath Mangeshkar. Lata Mangeshkar is a recipient of the Bharat Ratna and I felt honoured that she had asked me to inaugurate the 450-bed Deenanath Hospital and Research Centre in Pune. I visited the hospital just before the inauguration. I found that it would be treating nearly 30 per cent of the patients free. I was touched by the fact that despite her wealth and fame, she had not lost sight of the fact that one needs to do all one can
to help relieve the suffering of others.

Her songs played over the radio have brought pleasure to countless hearts over the decades. During the India—China conflict in 1962, her song ‘Ae mere vatan ke logo’ moved an entire nation. Few people can claim to have influenced the lives of millions in such a delightful way.

Role models can help us focus on what is correct for us as individuals, as groups and, of course, as a nation. They can also lead us to great success. We seem to have got carried away with the success of a few in the field of information technology. But that is indeed nothing compared to what we can and should achieve. Ancient India was a knowledge society and a leader in many intellectual pursuits, particularly in the fields of mathematics, medicine and astronomy. A renaissance is imperative for us to once again become a knowledge superpower rather than simply providing cheap labour in areas of high technology.

A nation’s wealth is the young generation of the country. When they grow up, who can be the role models? Mother, father and elementary schoolteachers play a very important part as role models. When the child grows up, the role models will be national leaders of quality and integrity in every field including politics, the sciences, technology and industry.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.

—Goethe

The great minds of the country had the ability to make others join their endeavour to convert dreams into reality. For them, the nation was bigger than themselves and they could draw thousands to act upon their dreams.

In December 2000, I had participated in the birth centenary celebrations of Adhyapaka Rathna T. Totadri Iyengar. I graduated in science from St Joseph’s College, Tiruchirapalli (1954). As a young student I saw Prof. T. Totadri Iyengar–a unique, divine-looking personality–walking through the college campus every morning and teaching mathematics to the students of B.Sc. (Honours) and M.Sc. The students looked at him with awe as one would at a guru, which indeed he was. When he walked, knowledge radiated all around. At that time, ‘Calculus’ Srinivasan was my mathematics teacher. He used to talk about Prof. Totadri Iyengar with deep respect and would organize integrated classes for first year B.Sc. (Honours) and first year B.Sc. (Physics) to be taught by him. I also had the opportunity to attend some of these classes, particularly on the subjects of modern algebra and statistics. When we were in first year B.Sc., ‘Calculus’ Srinivasan used to pick the top ten students as members of the Mathematics Club of St Joseph’s where Prof. Totadri Iyengar used to give a lecture series.

One day, in 1952, he gave a lecture on ancient mathematicians and astronomers of India. He spoke for nearly one hour. The lecture still rings in my ears. Let me share with you my thoughts about some ancient mathematicians, glimpses of whom I saw in Prof. Totadri Iyengar in my own way.

Aryabhata, born in
AD
476 in Kusumapura (now called Patna), was an astronomer and mathematician. He was reputed to be a repository of all the mathematical knowledge known at that point of time. He was only twenty-three years old when he wrote
Aryabhatiyam
in two parts. The text covers arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry and, of course, astronomy. He gave formulae for the areas of a triangle and a circle and attempted to give the volumes of a sphere and a pyramid. He was the first to give an approximation to pi as the ratio of a circle’s circumference and diameter, arriving at the value of 3.1416. To celebrate this great astronomer, India named its first satellite launched in 1975 Aryabhata.

Brahmagupta was born in
AD
598 at
Billamala in Rajasthan in the empire of Harsha. He wrote the
Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta
at the age of thirty. He updated works of astronomy. He covered progressions and geometry. He also studied and gave what is known as the solution of indeterminate equations of different degrees as well as solutions to quadratic equations.

Bhaskaracharya was another unique intellectual of his time. He was born in
AD
1114 at Vijjalbada, located at what is now the border of Karnataka and Maharashtra. He wrote the famous
Siddhanthasiromani
in four chapters. He dealt with astronomy and algebra and is known to be the first recognized mathematician who evolved value to zero from the concept based on Aryabhata’s discovery. To honour him, ISRO’s second series of satellites was named Bhaskara I and II (1979 and 1981).

The work of these three mathematicians of India provides the context of Albert Einstein’s remark that ‘We owe a lot to the Indians who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery
could have been made.’

Then comes to my mind the greatest of all geniuses ever known and acknowledged, and who lived within our present memory– Srinivasa Ramanujan. He lived only for thirty- three years (1887—1920) and had no practical formal education or means of living. Yet, his inexhaustible spirit and love for his subject enabled him to make a vast contribution to mathematical research and some of his contributions are still under serious study, engaging the efforts of mathematicians to establish formal proofs. Ramanujan was a unique Indian genius who could melt the heart of as rigorous a mathematician as Prof. G.H. Hardy of Trinity College, Cambridge. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that it was Hardy who discovered Ramanujan for the world. Why do not our reputed scientists locate another Ramanujan in our schools? Oh my friends why don’t you in every field integrate and grow instead of differentiating!

‘Every integer is a personal friend of Ramanujan,’ one of the tributes to
Ramanujan said and it was no exaggeration. Prof. Hardy, while rating geniuses on a scale of 100, put most of them in the range of around 30, giving a rating of 60 to the rare exception. However, for Ramanujan, he suggested, only the value of 100 would fit. There can be no better tribute to either Ramanujan or to the Indian heritage. Ramanujan’s work covers vast areas including prime numbers, hyper geometric series, modular functions, elliptic functions, mock theta functions, even magic squares, apart from some serious work on the geometry of ellipses, squaring the circle and so on.

I hope that eminent teachers who teach and inspire the young students of mathematics will continue their unmatched and noble services in the years to come, thus ensuring the march of Indian brilliance in this field. Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, the astrophysicist, continued the Indian mathematics tradition in his work abroad. Of course mathematics is universal. Now the tradition will further blossom with the efforts of Prof. C.S. Seshadri, Prof. J.V. Narlikar,
Prof. M.S. Narasimhan, Prof. S.R.S. Varadhan, Prof. M.S. Raghunathan, Prof. Narender Karmakar and Prof. Ashok Sen, among others.

Sir C.V. Raman started his career in the Office of the Accountant General, Calcutta. But the scientist in him would not let him rest and he was always probing for answers to some of the problems that interested him. Fortunately, he was supported by the great educationist Ashutosh Mukherjee, who encouraged Sir C.V. Raman to pursue his research. It is noteworthy that the Raman Effect, the discovery of which brought him the Nobel Prize, did not come out of a grand establishment set up at vast expense. I believe the urge to show to the world the excellence of Indian minds would have been a major motivating factor for Sir C.V. Raman. The same is the case with Prof. S. Chandrasekhar, also a Nobel laureate for his work on black holes. There are some interesting statements in his biography
Chandra
by Kameshwar C. Wali. As it points out, ‘Chandra grew up in what was a golden
age for science, art and literature in India, spurred on partly by the struggle for independence. J.C. Bose, C.V. Raman, Meghnad Saha, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and Rabindranath Tagore, by their achievements in scientific and creative endeavours, became national heroes along with Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and a host of others …’ Possibly, their great success helped produce an atmosphere of creativity. Howsoever it may be, it is worth noting, as Chandrasekhar observed, ‘that in the modern era before 1910, there were no (Indian) scientists of international reputation or standing. Between 1920 and 1925, we had suddenly five or six internationally well-known men. I myself have associated this remarkable phenomenon with the need for self-expression, which became a dominant motive among the young during the national movement. It was a part of the national movement to assert oneself. India was a subject country, but … particularly in science, we could show the West in their own realm that we were equal to them’.

Here I would like to quote Sir C.V.
Raman, who said in 1969 while addressing young graduates, ‘I would like to tell the young men and women before me not to lose hope and courage. Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind. What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force, which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit. We need a spirit of victory, a spirit that will carry us to our rightful place under the sun, a spirit which can recognize that we, as inheritors of a proud civilization, are entitled to our rightful place on this planet. If that indomitable spirit were to arise nothing can hold us from achieving our rightful destiny.’

Further afield, there was similarly the emergence of others who were great in their respective fields. Interestingly, a music trinity
of great saints, Thiagaraja Swamigal, Muthuswamy Deekshidar and Shyama Sastrigal, also emerged at the same time in south India within a 50-km radius. What we should note is that the movement for independence generated the best of leaders in arts, science, technology, economics, history and literature who stand with the best in the world.

In more recent times too we have seen the emergence of great visionary scientists. Particularly, I was interested in the lives of three scientists–Dr D.S. Kothari, Dr Homi J. Bhabha and Dr Vikram Sarabhai. I wanted to learn more about their leadership qualities in the scientific and technological fields which helped link these to the development of the nation. They are the founders of three great institutions–DRDO, DAE, ISRO.

Dr D.S. Kothari, a professor at Delhi University, was an outstanding physicist and astrophysicist. He is well known for ionization of matter by pressure in cold compact objects like planets. This theory is complementary to the epoch-making theory of thermal
ionization of his guru, Dr Meghnad Saha. Dr D.S. Kothari set a scientific tradition in Indian defence tasks when he became Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister in 1948. The first thing he did was to establish the Defence Science Centre to do research in electronic materials, nuclear medicine and ballistic science. He is considered the architect of defence science in India. We are celebrating this great mind through a research chair at the Indian Institute of Science.

Dr Bhabha did research in theoretical physics at Cambridge University. From 1930 to 1939, Homi Bhabha carried out research relating to cosmic radiation. In 1939, he joined Sir C.V. Raman at IISc, Bangalore. Later, he founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research with focus on nuclear and mathematical sciences. He established the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948. His vision led to the setting up of numerous centres in the field of nuclear science and technology, such as those for producing nuclear power, or for research in nuclear
medicine. These science institutions generated further technological centres keeping nuclear science as the vital component.

Dr Sarabhai, the youngest of the three, had worked with Sir C.V. Raman in experimental cosmic rays. He established the Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad with space research as the focus. In 1963, Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) began launching sounding rockets for atmospheric research. Dr Sarabhai established the Space Science & Technology Centre (SSTC) and was its director. His vision led to the establishment of ISRO with its allied centres responsible for development of launch vehicles, satellites, mission management and applications.

These three Indian scientists, all of them physicists, started physics research institutions that blossomed into defence technology, nuclear technology and space technology, which now employ 20,000 scientists in centres spread around the country. One thing I noted was that all three realized the
importance of making the political leadership understand what science could do for the country. It is essential that technologies that give immediate benefits to the people be taken up for implementation by the system regardless of which party is in power. Another important message conveyed by these scientists is that basic science is vital for growth of technology and for developing new leaders in science. Let us learn from them the proven qualities of leadership to value science and technology in an integrated way.

In 1962, Dr Sarabhai and Dr Bhabha were looking for a site to establish the space research station in the equatorial region. Thumba in Kerala was found most suitable as it was near the equatorial region and was ideally suited for ionospheric research. The locality, however, was inhabited by thousands of fishermen living in the villages there. It also had a beautiful church called St Mary Magdalene Church and the Bishop’s house. As such, the acquisition of the land did not move any further.

Dr Sarabhai met the Bishop, His Excellency Rev. Dr Peter Bernard Pereira, on a Saturday and requested transfer of the property. The Bishop smiled and asked him to meet him the next day. In the Sunday morning service, the Bishop told the congregation, ‘My children, I have a famous scientist with me who wants our church and the place I live for the work of space science and research. Science seeks truth that enriches human life. The higher level of religion is spirituality. The spiritual preachers seek the help of the Almighty to bring peace to human minds. In short, what Vikram is doing and what I am doing are the same– both science and spirituality seek the Almighty’s blessings for human prosperity in mind and body. Children, can we give them God’s abode for a scientific mission?’ There was silence for a while followed by a hearty ‘Amen’ from the congregation which made the whole church reverberate.

It was indeed a great experience working with Dr Sarabhai from 1963 to 1971. As a young engineer engaged in the tasks of
composite technology, explosive systems and rocket engineering systems at the Thiruvananthapuram space centre I drew tremendous energy from his leadership. Though the nation was in its technological infancy, Dr Sarabhai was dreaming of developing our own satellite launch vehicles. These would be used to launch from Indian soil remote sensing satellites in sun- synchronous orbit and communication satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Today, his vision is almost realized with the launch of the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle (GSLV). ISRO has also operationalized the IRS and INSAT systems, thereby bringing the benefits of space to the common man.

There is an experience I would like to share with you in relation to Dr Sarabhai’s vision for space programmes. I wrote briefly in
Wings of Fire
about this episode. The design project of India’s first satellite launch vehicle (SLV-3) was taken up at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). The design of each stage of rocket, heat shield and guidance system was given to selected project
leaders. I was given the design project of the fourth stage of SLV-3, that is, the upper stage rocket, which would give the final velocity to put Rohini into orbit. This fourth stage uses an advanced composite material that provides high strength with minimum weight. It also has maximum loading of high energy solid propellant. While we were developing the design of this upper stage in 1970, I received a call from Dr Sarabhai from Ahmedabad stating that he would be visiting Thiruvananthapuram along with Prof. Hubert Curien, chairman of CNES, the French space agency. I was asked to give a presentation about the fourth stage to Prof. Curien’s team. When the presentation was over, we realized that the SLV-3 fourth stage was also being considered as upper stage for the French Diamont P-4 launch vehicle. The CNES needed an apogee rocket motor nearly double the propellant weight and also size of the stage that we had designed.