Dr.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 - 27 July

2015)
Posted: 27 Jul 2015 09:31 AM PDT

Former president of India Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam passed away at Bethany Hospital, Shillong due to
heart failure after having collapsed during a lecture he was giving at IIM Shillong.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 - 27 July 2015) was an Indian scientist who
served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. Dr. Kalam collapsed during a lecture at
IIM Shillong and died of massive cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015.

Kalam 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 the 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.

In 2002, Kalam was elected the President of India in 2002 with the support of the both the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Indian National Congress. After serving a term of 5
years, he returned to civilian life of education, writing, and public service. He has received several
prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor.

Early life and education

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in a Tamil Muslim family to
Jainulabudeen, a boat owner and Ashiamma, a housewife, at Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram
District, located in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He came from a poor background and started
working at an early age to supplement his family's income. After completing school, Kalam
distributed newspapers to financially contribute to his father's income.In his school years, he had
average grades, but was described as a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to
learn and spend hours on his studies, especially mathematics. He was just a simple man with a
great fierceful heart in his childhood After completing his school 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. Towards the end of the course, he was not enthusiastic about the subject and would later
regret the four years he studied it. He then moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace
engineering. While Kalam was working on a senior class project, the Dean was dissatisfied with the
lack of progress and threatened revoking his scholarship unless the project was finished within the
next three days. He worked tirelessly on his project and met the deadline, impressing the Dean who
later said, "I [Dean] was putting you [Kalam] 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.

Career as a scientist

After graduating from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT Chennai) in 1960, Kalam joined
Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) as a scientist. Kalam started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian
Army, but remained unconvinced with the choice of his job at DRDO. Kalam was also part of the
INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai, the renowned space scientist. In 1969,
Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the project
director of India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed
the Rohini satellite in near earth's orbit in July 1980. Joining ISRO was one of Kalam's biggest
achievements in life and he is said to have found himself when he started to work on the Satellite
Launching Vehicle (SLV) project. Kalam first started work on an expandable rocket project
independently at DRDO in 1965. In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded
the programme to include more engineers.

In 196364, he visited NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia, Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Wallops Flight Facility situated at Eastern Shore of
Virginia.[5][16] During the period 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
success.

Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country's first nuclear test Smiling Buddha as
the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in the development, test site
preparation and weapon designing. In the 1970s, a landmark was achieved by ISRO when the
locally built Rohini-1 was launched into space, using the SLV rocket. In the 1970s, Kalam also
directed two projects, namely, Project Devil and Project Valiant , which sought to develop ballistic
missiles from the technology of the successful SLV programme. Despite the disapproval of Union
Cabinet, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace projects through
her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship. Kalam played an integral role convincing the
Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects. His research and
educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in the 1980s, which prompted the
government to initiate an advanced missile programme under his directorship. Kalam and Dr V S
Arunachalam, metallurgist and scientific adviser to the Defence Minister, worked on the suggestion
by the then Defence Minister, R Venkataraman on a proposal for simultaneous development of a
quiver of missiles instead of taking planned missiles one after another. R Venkatraman was
instrumental in getting the cabinet approval for allocating 388 crores for the mission, named
Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and appointed Kalam as the chief
executive.[18] Kalam 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.

Kalam was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister, and the Secretary of Defence
Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II
nuclear tests were conducted during this period in which he played an intensive political and
technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with R. Chidambaram
during the testing phase.Media coverage of Kalam during this period made him the country's best
known nuclear scientist. However, the director of the site test, K Santhanam, said that the
thermonuclear bomb had been a "fizzle" and criticisied Kalam for issuing an incorrect report. Both
Kalam and R. Chidambaram dismissed the claims.

In 1998, along with cardiologist Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost coronary stent, named the
"Kalam-Raju Stent". In 2012, the duo, designed a rugged tablet computer for health care in rural
areas, which was named the "Kalam-Raju Tablet".

Presidency

Kalam served as the 11th President of India, succeeding K R Narayanan. He won the 2002
presidential election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi
Sahgal. He served from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007.

Awards and honours

A P J Abdul Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Student's Day by 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 immense and valuable contribution to the
scientific research and modernisation of defence technology in India. In 2005, Switzerland declared
26 May as science day to commemorate Kalam's visit in the country.In 2013, he was the recipient of
the Von Braun Award from the National Space Society "to recognize excellence in management of
and leadership for a space-related project."

Kalam's writings

Developments in Fluid Mechanics and Space Technology by A P J Abdul Kalam and

Roddam Narasimha; Indian Academy of Sciences, 1988
India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium by A P J Abdul Kalam, Y S Rajan; New York,
 1998.
Wings of Fire: An Autobiography by A P J Abdul Kalam, Arun Tiwari; Universities Press,
1999.
Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India by A P J Abdul Kalam; Viking, 2002.
The Luminous Sparks by A P J Abdul Kalam, by; Punya Publishing Pvt Ltd, 2004.
Mission India by A P J Abdul Kalam, Paintings by Manav Gupta; Penguin Books, 2005
Inspiring Thoughts by A P J Abdul Kalam; Rajpal & Sons, 2007
You Are Born To Blossom: Take My Journey Beyond by A P J Abdul Kalam and Arun
Tiwari; Ocean Books, 2011.
Target 3 Billion" by A P J Abdul Kalam and Srijan Pal Singh; December 2011 Publisher
Penguin Books.
Turning Points: A journey through challenges by A P J Abdul Kalam; Harper Collins India,
2012.
My Journey: Transforming Dreams into Actions by A P J Abdul Kalam; August 2013 by the
Rupa Publication.
A Manifesto for Change: A Sequel to India 2020 by A P J Abdul Kalam and V Ponraj; July
2014 by Harper Collins.
Transcendence My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji by A P J Abdul Kalam;
June 2015 by Harper Collins India Publication.

Dr A P J Abdul Kalam

11th President of India

In office

25 July 2002 25 July 2007

Prime Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Minister Manmohan Singh

Vice Krishan Kant

President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat

Preceded K R Narayanan
by

Succeeded Pratibha Patil

by

Personal details

Born Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam

15 October 1931 (age 83)

Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram
 District, Madras Presidency, British India

(now in Tamil Nadu, India)

Died 27 July 2015 (aged 83)

Shillong, Meghalaya, India

Nationality Indian

Alma mater St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli

Madras Institute of Technology

Profession Professor

Author

Aerospace scientist

Religion Islam

Website abdulkalam.com