There have been some great and inspirational scientists and forward-thinkers throughout history, and many of these people have been up against great adversity, both in their personal and professional lives. Asia, particularly within the Indian subcontinent, has been a place of great and hard-working scientists, engineers and professionals working with technology. In the Western world, we may know the names of Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla and Albert Einstein to name a few scientists.
Figure 1: Photo of Space X Falcon Heavy Rocket by Bill Jelen on Unsplash.
Nicolaus Copernicus believed in the holistic Heliocentric view, but experienced backlash
We may be aware that the astronomer and theorist Nicolaus Copernicus had used a telescope and enlightened Europe upon the “Heliocentric Theory”, where the Sun is described to be in the centre [1], against the “Ptolemaic Theory” described by Klaudios Ptolemaios (Claudius Ptolemeus), where Earth is in the centre [2]. As great as Copernicus’ feats were in scientific discovery, this didn’t come without any struggle or backlash from the existing religious and Christian system in the 1500s in Europe.
Figure 2: Photo of statue of Nicolaus Copernicus by Mateusz_foto from Pixabay.
Nikola Tesla’s and Albert Einstein’s feats against the scientific world
Tesla, the Serbian-American scientist and inventor who developed design patents and innovations of great value in today’s society, was another great scientist. Also he had to surpass great mountains of adversity to get his ideas laid out, such as that of Edison’s attempts to hinder Tesla’s innovative ideas and struggles against keeping his patents.
Furthermore, we have Albert Einstein with his Theory of Relativity. With a troublesome education which he dropped out from in addition to having dyslexia, he overcame these problems and came out with being one of the most famous physicists and scientists the world had ever seen. The mentioned names were those of people who were all devoted to new-thinking, innovation and ideas while facing some form of adversity that has required values and qualities of inner strength and courage.
Figure 3: Photo of Nikola Tesla’s statue in his hometown in Smijan, Croatia in past Serbia by Damir Spanic on Unsplash.
Elon Musk’s inspirational resilience through Space X and Tesla
Returning back to Asia, we see an exciting growth of new scientists and technology professionals, and to mention a few, there are Abdul Kalam, K. Sivan and Mayilsamy, who were all associated with the Indian space adventure. In the Western world, Elon Musk’s Space X adventure is still part of a great breakthrough in engineering and science associated with space travel, and you may know how close he was to bankruptcy with his rocket launches failures. The car company he founded, Tesla, has a similar story that has illustrated Elon Musk’s resilience while developing the company and being close to failures and bankruptcy – pushing through the painful process of earning investors, delivering during quarters and following market expectations [3].
Abdul Kalam’s spirituality, hard work, self confidence and innovative problem-solving
Figure 4: Photo of APJ Abdul Kalam from his Facebook profile.
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam took part in building India’s rocket systems and was during the 1990s the top science advisor to the Indian government, in particular the Principal Scientific Advisor of Defence [4]. Kalam was also a philosopher and a poet. His story is one of failures and setbacks, and the leader of a dedicated team of new-thinking professionals [5].
As he grew up in Rameswaram and his interest in science had grown, he applied to get into India’s rocket science organisation (ISRO – Indian Space Research Organisation). His father Jainulabdeen had a great influence on him and got Kalam influenced by his quality of being spiritual, having wisdom and being peaceful. Honesty and self-discipline Kalam said he had inherited from his father. Faith in goodness and deep kindness he felt he inherited from his mother. Abdul Kalam tried to emulate his father through science and technology. In addition, he continually looked into himself, through introspection [5]. His father used to say:
“When troubles come, try to understand the relevance of your sufferings. Adversities always presents opportunities for introspection”.
– Abdul Kalam’s father, Jainulabdeen
This would in part come to define Kalam’s way of living – spirituality, hard work, trust in his innate ability to good and solve the problems that present themselves. In addition, his close friend and relative Ahmed Jallaluddin, who later married his sister, would join him for long walks every evening past Mosque street and together express reverence to the Shiva temple like any other pilgrim. He also got his first wages during the start of the second world war, where he got his wages through a job from Samsuddin.
One experience of great adversity that required courage and strength from a personal point of view, was when he lost his dad and travelled back to his hometown in Rameswaram. He was going back to an island which had brought coherence and harmony to his life, but without his spiritual guide and companion – his father. Moreover, he lost one of his teachers whom had given him great life lessons to surpass significant adversities. In the retired phase of his life, he became a politician and ultimately accomplished something that has made him popular on one of the world’s greatest stages – becoming the president of one of the most populated countries in the world, his motherland India.
Mylswamy Annadurai’s acceptance of failure and looking for lessons to correct them
Mylswamy Annadurai was popularly known as the “Moon Man of India” and a former director of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), where he directed Chandrayaan-1 to the Mars Orbiter Mission and contributed some of his valuable skills and time to Chandrayaan-2. Before his role in ISRO, he was a village boy who went to college and Anna university. He used to read diverse subjects in addition to newspapers, and studied long hours on a diverse number of subjects. Chandrayaan-1 was an orbiter around the Moon, a communication satellite with improved long range comms capabilities. Mangalyaan was the ISRO’s introduction to an orbiter around Mars, whereas Chandrayaan-2 with heritage from Chandrayaan-1 and Mangalyaan to investigate the lunar surface.
Figure 5: Photo of M. Annadurai from his Facebook profile.
As a response to a question about how scientists can bounce back from the setback of Chandrayaan-2, he responded:
“Accept failure as a part of the game and own the responsibility. However, look for lessons from the failure, so that they are corrected for future missions.”
– Mylswamy Annadurai
Accepting failures is one of the most difficult responses we can give in life and learning from them is perhaps even more difficult. It is one of the most difficult lessons in life. In addition to learning from his mistakes, he saw one of his strengths to be coming from delegating work through a managerial role, being able to see the skills and potential in workers and how they could best provide their capabilities for the planned mission. As I am writing this, I have learnt that Annadurai’s father has sadly passed away due to age-related illnesses [7]. I wish him my deepest condolences and that he and his family stays strong during this difficult time.
K. Sivan’s adversity and satellite launches, and his continuous effort to push ISRO to greater heights
Figure 6: Photo of K. Sivan from his Facebook profile.
Lastly, the scientist Kailasavadivoo Sivan who is currently a chairman and rocket scientist at ISRO, can be mentioned for his courage and strength through immense adversities whilst developing India’s space programme. From humble beginnings in Kanyakumary in Tamil Nadu in India, he had to work hard to get into prestigious academic institutions.
One adversity came during his failed satellite launch to Moon through ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2, in which the rocket lost contact with the ISRO mission control room [8]. He was subsequently seen teary-eyed while trying to explain the failure in front of the media. Elon Musk was one of those, among many others, who felt his pain and wished him to not give up and the best of luck. But having surpassed this difficulty, he got back up and is currently working hard to push ISRO to greater heights. As can be read from a leadership development blog named Lead Grow Develop [8], adversity can make you stronger if you let it. And this does indeed stem through for all the inspirational professionals mentioned above.
In conclusion, we can see that all of these mentioned scientists and technology professionals have endured great adversity and overcome them through sheer will, work ethic and belief in their ability to offer life their very best – both career-wise, with significant influence on the ability to transcend the present thinking while helping or influencing people on the way, but also on a personal level with friends and families, leaving behind a great legacy of strength and character. And there are many more out there to bring to light. I would ultimately like to emphasize that as seen on the above examples, that adversity can make you stronger if you let it – and you do indeed have the ability to confront these adversities and find a way.
Sources:
[1] History. Oct 24, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/nicolaus-copernicus
[2] Elgarøy, Øystein. SNL. 2021. [Online]. Available: https://snl.no/Klaudios_Ptolemaios
[3] Thomas, Jessica. Entrepreneur. [Online]. Available: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/358986
[4] Sahab, Gulzar. [Online]. Available: https://www.theeducationmagazine.com/word-art/apj-abdul-kalam-quotes/
[5] Kalam, Apj Abdul. Wings of Fire. [Online]. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5b20oLaIaw
[6] Bhowmik, Kaushik. The Statesman. 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.thestatesman.com/supplements/science_supplements/accept-failure-part-game-1502798936.html
[7] The Hindu. 2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/mylswamy-annadurai-bereaved/article33669804.ece
[8] NDTV. July 22, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/chandrayaan-2-what-k-sivan-said-after-loss-of-contact-with-vikram-lander-2096991
[9] Torres, Elita. January 3, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://leadgrowdevelop.com/powerful-short-stories-overcoming-adversities/
