A.P.J. Kalam

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam ( 15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.

A career scientist turned reluctant politician, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram.

After completing his education at the Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation School,

Kalam went on to attend Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, 

then affiliated with the University of Madras.

He studied physics and aerospace engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960,

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 program and military missile development efforts.

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. He also played a pivotal organizational, technical

and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, 

the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

Kalam was elected President of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling &

the opposition.After serving a term of five years, 

he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service. 

He received several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.

Education

After completing his education at the Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation School,

Kalam went on to attend Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, then affiliated with the University of Madras, from where he graduated in physics in 1954.

He moved to Madras in 1955 to study Aerospace Engineering.

While Kalam was working on a senior class project, the Dean was dissatisfied with his lack of progress and 

threatened to revoke his scholarship unless the project was finished within the next three days. 

Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him, 

"I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline".

He narrowly missed achieving his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he placed ninth in qualifiers, 

and only eight positions were available in the IAF.

As a scientist  

After graduating, Kalam joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a scientist. 

He started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army,was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai, the renowned space scientist.

In 1969, he was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the Project Director of India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980; 

he had first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965.

Between the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle (PSLV) and SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be successful.

he played a major part in developing many missiles under the mission including Agni, an intermediate range ballistic missile and Prithvi, the tactical surface-to-surface missile, although the projects have been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns.

Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period during this period made him the country's best known nuclear scientist.

Presidency

Kalam served as the 11th President of India, served from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007.During his term as president, he was affectionately known as the People's President.

Kalam was the third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna, 

India's highest civilian honour, before becoming the President. Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) and Dr Zakir Hussain (1963) were the earlier recipients of Bharat Ratna who later became the President of India.

He was also the first scientist and the first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan.

Article 72 of the Constitution of India empowers the President of India to grant pardons, and suspend or commute the death sentence of convicts on death row.

Kalam supported the need of Uniform Civil Code in India, keeping in view the population of the country.

After leaving office, Kalam became a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong, the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad and the Indian Institute of Management Indore, an honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore,

Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram, professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University and an adjunct at many other academic and research institutions across India.

He taught information technology at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and technology at Banaras Hindu University and Anna University

Books & Writings

In his book India 2020, Kalam strongly advocated an action plan to develop India into a "knowledge superpower" and a developed nation by the year 2020. He regarded his work on India's nuclear weapons programme as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower

India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium by A P J Abdul Kalam.

Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India by A P J Abdul Kalam.

Wings of Fire: An Autobiography by A P J Abdul Kalam.

Awards and honours

Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Student Day by the United Nations.He has also received honorary doctorates from 40 universities.

The Government of India has 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."

Death

While delivering a lecture on Livable Planet Earth at Indian Institute of Management Shillong on 27 July 2015, Kalam suffered a severe heart attack at around 6:30 p.m IST. He was rushed to the Bethany Hospital in a critical condition;

despite efforts to revive him, he died of cardiac arrest at 7:45 p.m IST.