Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born 15 October 1931 in Rameshwaram, Madras Presidency, British India (now Tamil Nadu, India), usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam^, was the 11th President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007, he was elected during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance (India) coalition government, under prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People’s President.
Before his term as India’s president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer.
Kalam played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. He is chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology(Thiruvanthapuram), a professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.
With the death of R. Venkataraman on 27 January 2009, Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.
| Name | Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam |
| Profession | Scientist |
| Date of Birth | October 15, 1931 |
| Mother Tongue | Tamil |
| Home Town | Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram district |
| Titles | Indian Missile Man,India’s ‘Father of Missile Technology’, 200% Indian, Gandhian Missile Man |
| Schooling | ‘Samiyar’ school in Rameswaram, and Schwartz School in Ramnathapuram town |
| College | St. Joseph College, Trichi for BSc degree. |
| Education | DMIT in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology (1954-57) |
| Father | Jainulabdeen Marakayar |
| Mother | Ashiamma |
| Achievments | Missiles – Prithvi, Trishul, Akash, Nag, and Agni Nuclear Tests |
| His Inspiration | Mahatma Gandhi |
| Favourite author | Subramania Bharathi |
| Special talent | He plays Veena |
| Auto Biography | Wings of Fire |
| Popular quote from his poem | “Dreams float on an impatient wind, A wind that wants to create a new order. An order of strength and thundering of fire.” |
| His Vision for India | Freedom, Development and Self-Reliance |
| Awards | Padma Bhusan (1981), the Padma Vibhushan (1990), the Bharat Ratna (1997). |
| Assignment abroad | 1963-64 in the United States at the Wallops Island Rocketry Centre and the Langley Research Centre. |
| Hobbies | Reading |
| Other facts | * He recites the Quran and the Bhagwad Gita with equal devotion *He is a vegetarian * Jadavpur University conferred him the honor of Doctor of Science in 1990 * Received an honorary degree of Doctor of Science from IIT, Mumbai in 1991 * Kalam was the first graduate in the family * He is a bachelor |
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