APJ Abdul Kalam Biography – Missile Man of India

APJ Abdul Kalam is a renowned name in India. A great scientist, a great politician and above all a great human being.

APJ Abdul Kalam Early life

He was born on 15th October 1931. He belonged to a humble family and lived in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. He belonged to a Muslim family. His father made and rented boats. He lived near Rameshwaram Shiva temple and son of the main priest was his best friend. he studied with his best friend insane class. In his class one, he was humiliated by his teacher for sitting with the son of a priest. Later on, the priest made the teacher apologize to him.

He was a brilliant student during childhood. His interest was in mathematics and physics. He was fascinated by birds and aeroplanes because of their capabilities of flight. In the later years of his childhood, he worked as a newspaper delivery boy to support his family while studying in school.

After passing out school, he took admission in St Joseph college Tiruchirapalli and graduated in physics in the year1954. Then he secured admission in Madras school of technology(MIT-Chennai) in 1960. he wanted to join Indian Airforce but he missed the passing exam by few points.

His professional life

Later on he joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation(DRDO). He went on to become a aerospace scientist and a researcher in 1969. DRDO is a research agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with military research and development. Sir APJ kalam worked here as a scientist for a long time and his work was acclaimed by the higher authorities. He has worked with Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (the father of India’s space program) under a noted space scientist. He was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation. Here he was the project director of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in earth orbit in the year 1980. This is one of the biggest achievement of Sir kalam. He continued his work in ISRO and accomplished many great projects for defence ministry of India.

In 1980, the government of India initiated an advanced missile program under his leadership, He was the chief scientific advisor to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999.

Sir kalam played a great role in developing many missiles for the country. One of his well-known work is missile Agni. A book is also written on the course of development of Agni. Name is “Wings of fire”. He was also involved in the Pokhran nuclear weapons test and played a pivotal role in the project. He is also known as the ‘Missile man of India ‘.

The other missiles which were launched under his supervision are Prithvi, Naag, Trishul Akash etc.

Sir kalam served as the 11th President of India from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007. He is the third President of India who is honoured by Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award before becoming the President. He was the most popular President of India. During his presidency period, the army and country achieved many milestones that contributed a lot to the nation. He is popularly known as People’s President.

His personal life

Sir kalam’s full name is Avul Pakir Jainullabdin Abdul Kalam. He remained unmarried all his life. He never retired from his work. Even at the time of his death, he was delivering a lecture in Shillong. His property included four pair of dresses and lots of books. He continuously held meetings with school children in order to guide them for the future. His vision was to help everyone possible to achieve their dreams. One of his very famous quotes is

‘Sapne who nahi hote Jo aap sone ke baad dekhte hai, sapne who hote hai Jo aapko sone nahi dete’

Sir Islam is truly an inspiration for mankind. His modesty is what makes him different from others. After his tenure as a president, he gave many lectures and held conferences to guide the youth. He was so simple, he apologized to his security officer as he had to stand for hours to protect him. He did not rest for a while. His appointment diary was full every day with meetings. He was not satisfied with his tenure as a president and thought he should become a president again in order to complete the work which was not finished in one tenure.

Also Read: Pranab Mukherjee Biography

A true patriot of the country. He even refused job proposals from other top space agencies of the world in order to work for his own country. It is said that he refused Pakistan’s proposal to work for them as he was a Muslim. He also inspired his colleagues to work in India for it’s development after studying abroad. Many of his colleagues choose to work in India because of his inspiration.

His achievements and awards

He received Bharat Ratna in 1997. He has also been awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1981.The Padma Vibhushan for his contribution as a scientific advisor to the Government of India in 1990. He is also the author of a book like Ignited Mind, Target 3 billion, India 2020, My journey etc. He received Doctor of science award from Edinburgh University, UK in 2014 and International Von Korman Award from California University of Technology in 2009. These are some of the awards from his long list of achievements, many coming from other developed countries as well.

He was a man with foresight and ideas who always aimed for the development of the country. He has highlighted action plans about the development of the country till 2020 in his book “India-2020”.

Death

On 27th July 2015, Dr Abdul Kalam passed away due to cardiac arrest while giving a lecture at IIM Shillong. His death is considered to be one of the great losses of the country. The whole world had lost a great thinker, philosopher and idealist on that day.  

Due to his simplicity, discipline, dedication to work, and nationalist thinking, he always inspires the youth of the country. He is a man who is respected by everyone irrespective of religion, age or country.