Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, usually referred to as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is the President of India. He is also a notable scientist and an engineer. He is often referred to as the Missile Man of India.
Abdul Kalam was born at Rameswaram in Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu, to a working class Tamil Muslim family. He received his degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1958. He joined India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) upon graduation to work on a hovercraft project.
In 1962, Kalam moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), where his team successfully launched several satellites. He made a significant contribution as Project Director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully placed the Rohini satellite into the near earth orbit in July 1980.
In 1982, Kalam returned to the DRDO as director, focusing on Indigenous guided missiles. He was responsible for the development and operationalisation of the AGNI and PRITHVI missiles. This earned him the sobriquet ‘India’s missile-man’. He also helped in building healthcare products using technology developed for missiles.
In July 1992, Kalam became scientific advisor to India’s defence minister. As the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Indian government, he held the rank of a Cabinet Minister. His work led to the successful Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, which reiterated India’s position as a nuclear weapon state. Dr. Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet (SAC-C) and piloted India Millennium Mission 2020.
Dr. Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology and Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chennai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all, he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
Kalam was elected the 11th President of India and took office on July 25, 2002.
Dr. Kalam has the unique distinction of having received doctorates from at least thirty universities, as also India’s three highest civilian honours—he Padma Bhushan in 1981; the Padma Vibhushan in 1990; and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. He refused a honorary doctorate from a University, claiming he is satisfied with the ones he has earned with his hardwork and determination.
Kalam observes strict personal discipline, practicing vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. Kalam is a scholar of Tirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. It is believed that he reads both the Quran regularly and also the Bhagavad Gita at times.
Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, ‘’Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.
APJ Abdul Kalam on Tuesday, 14th February 2006 created history by becoming the country’s first President to undertake an undersea journey. Abdul Kalam boarded the INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian-origin kilo class submarine, from the Vishakapattanam Naval dockyard. The duration of the journey was around three-and-half hours during which Kalam had lunch with the crew members.
