A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Biography

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 into a Tamil Muslim family in Rameswaram, then in the Madras Presidency. His family had lost its wealth, and as a boy he sold newspapers to help out. He took a physics degree at St Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, in 1954 and studied aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology, narrowly missing a place as an air force pilot.

In 1960 he joined the Defence Research and Development Organisation as a scientist, and he later worked under Vikram Sarabhai on India's space research. After moving to the Indian Space Research Organisation in 1969 he was project director of the SLV-3 launch vehicle, which put the Rohini satellite into orbit in 1980. In the 1970s he also directed early ballistic missile projects, and he then led the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, which produced the Agni and Prithvi missiles and earned him the name Missile Man of India.

He was director general of the DRDO from 1992 to 1999 and one of the coordinators of the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, and then served as the government's principal scientific adviser. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1997. Backed by both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, he was elected President of India in 2002 and served until 2007, becoming known as the People's President. Afterwards he taught, wrote and lectured widely, and he collapsed and died of an apparent cardiac arrest while giving a lecture at IIM Shillong on 27 July 2015.