MISSILE MAN

Dr. APJ ABDUL KALAM

Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October, 1931 to a Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram, then in Madras Presidency in British India and now in Tamil Nadu. His father’s name was Jainulabdeen, who was a boat owner. His mother name was Ashiamma, who was a housewife. Abdul Kalam was the youngest of five siblings. He was close to his family and always help them, though he remained a bachelor whole life. To help the family, he started selling newspapers at an early age. In his school days, Kalam had an average grades but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn. Mathematics was his main interest.

He had completed his matriculation from Ramanathapuram and later he went to Saint Joseph's college where he became a physics graduate. In 1955, he went to Madras to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology. During his graduation, he was assigned a project to design a low-level attack aircraft together with a few other students. Their teacher had given them a tight deadline for completing the project, it was very difficult. Kalam worked hard under immense pressure and finally completed his project within the stipulated deadline. The teacher was impressed by the dedication of Kalam. As a result he wanted to become a fighter pilot but he got 9th position in the qualifiers list and only eight positions were available in

A.P.J Abdul Kalam had completed his graduation in 1957 from the Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958 as a scientist he had joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

In the early 1960s, he worked with the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) under the renowned space scientist Vikram Sarabhai.

He had started his career by designing a small hovercraft at DRDO. After visiting NASA's Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia, he had started working on an expandable rocket project independently in

1965 at DRDO.

He served as the project director of the SLV-III which successfully

deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980. It is India's first indigenously designed and produced satellite launch vehicle.

After Govt. approval, Kalam expanded the programme to include more engineers. In 1970s, he had made an effort to develop the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) with an aim to allow India to launch its Indian remote Sensing (IRS) satellite into Sun-Synchronous orbit, PSLV project was successful and on 20 September 1993, it was first

launched.

Abdul Kalam was asked to lead the project at DRDO as Chief Executive of IGMDP in 1983. The programme led to the development of four projects namely Short range surface-to-surface missile (Prithvi), Short range low-level surface-to-air missile (Trishul), Medium range surface- to-air missile (Akash) and Third-generation anti-tank missile (Nag). Under the leadership of Abdul Kalam, the project of IGMDP proved to be successful by producing missiles like first Prithvi missile in 1988 and then the Agni missile in 1989. Due to his contribution he was known as "Missile Man of India."

In 1992, he was appointed as the Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister. With the rank of cabinet minister, in 1999, he was appointed as the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. Abdul Kalam played a major role in conducting the Pokhran-II, a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions in May 1998. With the success of these tests he got the status of a national hero and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared India a full-fledged nuclear state. Abdul Kalam with the cardiologist Soma Raju in 1998 developed a low cost coronary stent named as "Kalam-Raju Stent". Further in 2012, a rugged tablet computer for health care in rural areas is designed which was named as "Kalam-Raju Tablet".

Dr. Abdul Kalam served as the President of India from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007. He was the first scientist and the first bachelor to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhawan. - Dr. Abdul Kalam was also known as People's President. - Over the course of his five-year term, he remained committed to his vision of transforming India into a developed nation.

-After leaving the office, Dr. Abdul Kalam chosen the academic field and became a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the Indian Institute of Management Indore, an honorary fellow of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. - He also served as the Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram, professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam’s Books

Famous Quotes by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Dream is not that which you see while sleeping it is something that does not let you sleep. “Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.” "Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action." “If you fail, never give up because FAIL means "First Attempt in Learning". “If you want to shine like a sun. First burn like a sun."

"All of us do not have equal talent. But, all of us have an equal opportunity to develop our talents." "All Birds find shelter during a rain. But Eagle avoids rain by flying above the Clouds.” “Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.” “My 2020 Vision for India is to transform it into a developed nation. That cannot be abstract; it is a lifeline.” ...... etc. “FAILURE will never overtake me if my definition to SUCCEED is strong enough”.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: Awards and Achievements Padma Bhushan (1981) Padma Vibhushan (1990) Bharat Ratna (1997) Indira Gandhi Award (1997) for National Integration Veer Savarkar Award (1998) Ramanujan Award (2000) from Alwars Research Centre, Chennai Dr. Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Student's Day by United

Nations. On 15 October, 2015 the 84th anniversary of Kalam’s birth, Narendra Modi,

the Prime Minister of India released postage stamps commemorating Kalam at DRDO Bhawan in New Delhi.

On 27 July 2015, Dr. Abdul Kalam was delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong where he suffered a heart attack and his condition became critical, so, he was shifted to Hospital where thereafter, he died of cardiac arrest.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam National Memorial DRDO built the memorial of late President Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam on his name in the island town of Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India in 2017. At the entrance of the memorial a statue of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was placed showing him playing Veena a musical instrument. In the memorial various replica of rockets and missiles are kept which shows the work of Dr. Abdul Kalam. Also, some acrylic paintings about his life are also displayed along with hundreds of portraits which depict the life of Dr. Kalam.

“I am Kalam” is the story of a child and his struggles to pursue his dreams and to surpass the boundaries of reality. It is a story of the need to provide education to the underclass and to equalize social inequities. A chance encounter with President Abdul Kalam, as he delivers a speech on TV, inspires him to fulfil his dreams. He re- christens himself Kalam. The film was conceptualized after the Right to Education Act was enforced in India.

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar released the first look of the biopic of Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam in New Delhi on 9 February, 2020. The title of the film is APJ Abdul Kalam: The Missile Man. It is a joint venture between Hollywood and Telugu film industry and will release by the end of 2020.