Homi J. Bhabha

Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909 to 1966) was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely called the father of the Indian nuclear programme. He founded the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay, later renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour, and he served as the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy. In 1954 he set out a long range strategy for India to draw its nuclear power from its large thorium reserves rather than its small uranium reserves, a three stage plan that India formally adopted. Under his direction the research reactor Apsara was commissioned in 1956, making India the first Asian country besides the Soviet Union to run a nuclear reactor. He died in the crash of Air India Flight 101 in 1966.