The Father of the Indian Nuclear Program

I am off to India Sunday to attend a wedding in Calcutta, my second trip in the past few months, the first being in November to lecture at a nuclear law course at National Law University, Delhi. In anticipation of the trip, I thought appropriate this first day cover from 1966 honoring Homi Bhabha, the nuclear physicist who is considered the "father" of the Indian nuclear program. The stamp was issued in April 1966, only a few months after his death in January in an airplane crash into Mount Blanc.

Bhabha founded some key Indian institutions, including the Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay, now named after him as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He was the first chair of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and represented India at the IAEA. Bhabha is credited with developing India's approach to nuclear energy -- civilian and military -- including the emphasis on the thorium fuel cycle given India's rich thorium reserves.