Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
1931 - 2015
Missile Man of India
Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam 15 October 1931 - 27 July 2015 ) was an Indian from aerospace scientist who served as the 11th. president of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.[1] He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.[2] He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.
About The Legend
- A.P.J Abdul Kalam served as the 11th Presedent of India from 2002 to 2007.
- Kalam earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras institute of Technology and in 1958 joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) .
- In 1969, he moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation, where he was project director of the SLV-III, the first satellite launch vehicle that was both designed and produced in India.
- Rejoining DRDO in 1982, Kalam planned the program that produced a number of successful missiles, which helped earn him the nickname “Missile Man.”
- Among those successes was Agni, India's first intermediate-range ballistic missile, which incorporated aspects of the SLV-III and was launched in 1989.
- Kalam received 7 honorary doctorates from 40 universities. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Government.
- In 1997, Kalam received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, for his contribution to the scientific research and modernisation of defence technology in India. In 2013, he was the recipient of the Von Braun Award from the National Space Society "to recognize excellence in the management and leadership of a space-related project".
- A prominent road in New Delhi was renamed from Aurangzeb Road to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road in August 2015.
- In February 2018, scientists from the Botanical Survey of India named a newly found plant species as Drypetes kalamii, in his honour.