Renowned Indian physicist T S G Sastry's research papers, correspondence, scientific manuals, negatives, and photographs have found a new home - the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS). Said to be the first non-biology collection at the NCBS, documents related to Sastry that were donated by his family members have been archived and made public on March 15. Anjali JK, an archivist at the centre, said, “The collection includes Sastry’s professional and personal correspondence, conversation between Sastry and Vikram Sarabhai, research publications among all. The collection is a special record of space science history emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, as collected or documented by Sastry.” Sastry is noted for his contribution towards establishing India’s first rocket launching station in Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram. He is also credited for advancing space research in the country through his work with sounding rockets, which are used for probing the upper atmosphere regions and for space research. The launch of the first sounding rocket from Thumba on November 21, 1963, marked the beginning of the Indian space programme. Speaking with indianexpress.com, Brinda Sastry, the younger daughter of Sastry, said her father was a deeply religious man and at the same time very scientific in his approach. “My father was a deeply religious man who chanted mantras from Rig Veda to express his beliefs in life and his work. He was a meticulous person and a curious mind constantly seeking to unravel the unknown. When we were clearing my father’s belongings at our parents' home after his passing in 2017 we were overwhelmed by what he had collected over time. We found several letters and photos. These were precious to him as he used to go through them again. He reminisced about his association with his mentor Vikram Sarabhai.” “My father used to read a lot. I remember him saying, ‘Let’s get a spaceship and go to Mars’. So in a way he was always connected to Cosmos,” Brinda said. Another scientist, Dharma Rao who worked with Sastry at Physics Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad from 1977-1981 remembers him as a sincere and honest scientist. “He gave full liberty to the workers and scientists who worked under him. Sastry was also a very frank person. After the demise of Sarabhai he was very sad,” he added.
