| Great Scientists |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
VIKRAMA SARABHAI |
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| Scientific
Achievements For a long time, only some individuals were interested in science and devoted themselves to it. That science is important for the development of the country and that the entire nation should take interest in it and help in its progress are modern ideas. In olden days some persons got interested in science, and then they did not think of food or water; they forgot their families and the whole world, and dedicated themselves to scientific research. Archimedes, Newton and Faraday are examples of such dedication. It was only a hundred years ago that nations began to realize the importance of science and scientists, and began to help them. After atomic science developed, it became difficult for any one individual to carry on research, without help from others. So teams of scientists undertook research. In addition, atomic research had to be carried on by several scientific institutes as no one institute could have all the facilities. So scientific research, which was only of individual interest, gained national importance. In fact, science has now crossed even national boundaries and has attained international status. That is, scientists of several countries share their knowledge and results, and work in cooperation. Space research which began in 1957 is responsible for this international cooperation. Even though one country may be engaged in such research, it cannot progress without the cooperation of other countries. Americans may launch an artificial satellite that revolves round the Earth. But its movement has to be studied at different points of the world. Only then all the necessary information about the experiment can be put together. So other countries have to put up tracking or observation centers. If it is a communication satellite – one, which receives and sends radio messages and television pictures from one country to another, thousands of miles away -such communication, will not be possible without the cooperation of other countries. Vikram Sarabhai was one of the leading scientists engaged in space research. During his studies on cosmic rays he discovered that the intensity of the cosmic rays changes twice a day. This discovery helped to understand the nature of inter- planetary space and its elect rd- magnetic properties. (If a small wire is wound round a piece of iron and electricity is passed through the wire, the iron becomes a magnet. If the magnet is moved about a wire, an electric current is produced in the wire. This production of magnetism by electricity and of electricity by magnetism is known as Electro- magnetic property.) As stated before, space research was started in 1957. Sarabhai made use of this research to find out if the results of his cosmic ray experiments were correct. America and Japan had set up a joint High Altitude Research Station at Chakaltaya in Bolivia. There they had set up equipment to discover mesons. Sarabhai sent a post-graduate student of his to yielded good results. Sarabhai conducted experiments in Trivandrum, Allbagh, Honalulu and Gulmarg; he showed that the reasons for the changes in the Earth's magnetism which was accepted by scientists till then, were wrong;the changes were due to other reasons. (The Earth behaves as a magnet. The Earth's magnetic power is known as the Earth's Magnetism.) |
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