A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Full name of A.P.J Abdul Kalam is Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. Dr. Kalam is described as “200 percent Indian”and has done the country proud on many fronts.

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam , who later became India’s missile man, was born at Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram district of Tamil Nadu. His father had to rent boats to fishermen to pay his schools fees. Later, he went on to study Aeronautical Engineering at the Chennai institute of Technology.

Kalam was the project head of the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3). This was India’s first experimental Satellite Launch Vehicle which put the satellite Rohini into orbit. As a director of DRDO, he steared the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), and five projects viz. Prithvi, Trishul, Akash,Nag and Agni were developed under him.

His theory is to “Do things yourself and do not indulge in short-cuts by importing equipment” He became the eyecandy of Indian masses after the pokhran nuclear tests in 1998.

Dr. Abdul Kalam joined the defence research and development organization (DRDO) in 1958. Later he moved to the Indian space research Organization (ISRO), where he succeeded in putting the 35-kg rohini I satellite on a low-earth orbit with the help of the SLV-III (satellite launch vehicle). After spending 19 fruitful years in ISRO, he returned to DRDO to head the country’s missile development programme, which culminated in the successful launch of the Agni and the prithvi. A vegetarian and a teetotaler, Abdul kalam recites the Quran and the Bhagvad Gita with equal ease. His modesty is evident from the fact that he gives all the credit to his colleagues. He has been felicitated with many national awards, including the bharat ratna.

Dr. kalam served as 11th president of India between 2002 and 2007. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People’s President. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour in 1997. He has also been a professor (of aerospace engineering) and is the first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram (IIST).

In May 2011, Kalam launched his mission for the youth of the nation called the “What Can I Give Movement” with a central theme to defeat corruption.