The Uncertainty Principle

Vikram Sarabhai was a living negation of C.P. Snow8217;s 8216;two cultures8217; theory. His biographer captures his science and his times.

In a country depressingly indifferent to history and conspicuously deficient in the art of biography, this book on the life and times of one of independent India8217;s outstanding scientists comes as a welcome surprise. Vikram Sarabhai 1919-1971 was the visionary pioneer of this country8217;s space programme; legendary Homi Bhabha8217;s successor as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission; and a complete negation of C.P. Snow8217;s 8220;two cultures8221; theory. His interests were vast and varied. Married to the classical dancer, Mrinalini Swaminathan, he was as at home in the world of the arts as in his favourite laboratory. Before serving as head of both India8217;s space and nuclear establishments, he had expanded the family business and built some first-rate institutions. But for his premature death, he was also an exceptionally lucky man 8212; born into an extremely wealthy family and blessed with sharp intellect and striking good looks above, extreme right, with S.S. Bhatnagar, Homi Bhabha, C.V. Raman. In short, an ideal subject for a biographer.

Amrita Shah says that her curiosity about Sarabhai was triggered at the age of nine, primarily because of her mother8217;s grief at the news of the sudden death of such a distinguished and young scientist, that too at a time when the country was still celebrating the liberation of Bangladesh. Under the circumstances, it is to her credit that, far from producing a hagiography, she has done a commendably professional job. No wonder she8217;s riled by too many people asking her, in the mistaken belief that the biography was commissioned by the Sarabhai family, 8220;Did you get paid well?8221;

Shah has brought to life both the personal and professional personas of the almost forgotten scientist. Her immense liking for her immensely likeable subject comes through, as does her sympathy with the views and values he held, but at no stage does she let go of objectivity. She has also been refreshingly candid, even on the sensitive subject of Vikram8217;s love life. As she puts it, Sarabhai had 8220;a wife Mrinalini and a mistress Kamla Chowdhry. Two lives, two homes. And he appeared to believe that he did not have to make a choice.8221; But such triangles cannot be free from pain. Mrinalini felt 8220;betrayed8221;. Kamla, too, had cause to 8220;complain8221;. Above all, it took years before his daughter Mallika8217;s 8220;unforgiving coldness towards her father8221; began to 8220;thaw8221;, but it did not melt.

On Sarabhai8217;s professional life, including controversial nuclear issues, especially his 8220;grave reservations8221; about the policy of 8220;weaponising8221; the nuclear programme, Shah has done painstaking research 8212; some primary, especially in relation to Vikram8217;s hand-written notes 8212; that is truly remarkable. And although she is convinced, approvingly, that Sarabhai wanted neither the production of nuclear weapons nor even a peaceful nuclear explosion, she dutifully cites also the evidence that tends to question her conclusions.

But she seems to be inadequately aware of the deviousness, complexities and contradictions of the world of nuclear policy making, and of the surfeit of misinformation, disinformation, half-truths and downright falsehoods on this sensitive subject. This alone can explain the one flaw in the book, an apparent attempt to belittle Homi Bhabha. For instance, the statement that 8220;contrary to his colossal reputation at home, Bhabha had a very different image in the western mind8221; is accurate only to the extent that his western contemporaries knew him to be 8220;arrogant8221; and inclined to 8220;keep the white man waiting8221;. This surely cannot diminish the towering stature as a scientist of the man unanimously chosen to preside over the first UN conference on peaceful uses of atomic energy in 1957. Sadly, Nobel Laureate S. Chandrasekhar8217;s allegation that Bhabha made 8220;Wolfgang Pauli8221;, the eminent physicist, also a Nobel Laureate, and other distinguished western guests travel by bus, while himself driving in a 8220;limousine8221;, is false. Raja Ramanna categorically contradicted it publicly and personally confronted Chandrasekhar, whose lame reply was, 8220;we are all old men; memory sometimes plays tricks8221;.

However, that is a relatively minor matter when the subject is Vikram, not Homi. Shah8217;s book is not a definitive biography of Sarabhai, but it is the best so far, and is unlikely to be bettered anytime soon.