APJ ABDUL KALAM
Former President of India & Indian
Scientist
Dr. A.P. J. Abdul Kalam is an Indian scientist and
administrator who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
Born: October 15,
1931, Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
Full name: Avul
Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.
Awards: Bharat
Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan.
Parents: Ashiamma
Jainulabiddin, Jainulabiddin Marakayar.
Education: Madras
Institute of Technology (1955–1960), St. Joseph's College,
Tiruchirappalli (1954).
Books: Wings of Fire (1999),
Ignited Minds (2002), India 2020(1998), Indomitable Spirit & Target 3
Billion(2011).
.jpg)
.jpg)
Before his term as President, he worked as an Aerospace
engineer with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Kalam is popularly
known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development
of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He
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 the President of India in 2002,
defeating Lakshmi Sahgal, was nominated by Bharatiya Janata
Party and supported by opposition Indian National Congress, the major
political parties of India. He is currently a visiting professor
at Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Indian Institute of
Management Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Management Indore,
honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Chancellor of
the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram, a
professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna
University (Chennai), JSS University (Mysore) and an
adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across
India.
Kalam is known for his motivational speeches and
interaction with the student community in India. He launched his mission for
the youth of the nation in 2011 called the What Can I Give Movement with a
central theme to defeat corruption in India.
Early Life & Education
Abdul Kalam was born in a Tamil Muslim family to
Jainulabudeen, a boat owner and Ashiamma, a housewife, at Rameswaram,
Ramanathapuram District, in 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. 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 Scientist
After graduating from Madras Institute of
Technology (MIT – Chennai) in 1960, Kalam
joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defense
Research and Development Organization (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 Organization (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 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 program to include more engineers. During the period between the
1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar SLV and
SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be success.
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. 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. He 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 where
he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the
Chief Project Coordinator, along with R. Chidambaram during the
testing phase. In 1998, along with cardiologist Dr. Soma Raju,
Kalam developed a low cost Coronary stent. It was named as
"Kalam-Raju Stent" honouring them. In 2012, the duo, designed a
rugged tablet PC for health care in rural areas, which was named as
"Kalam-Raju Tablet".
POSTED BY -
NEHA KAMBOJ
EMAIL ID - neha.naina.kamboj@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment