A.P.J.ABDUL KALAM

Childhood: 

           He was born on 15 Oct 1931 in a Tamil Muslim family on the island of  Dhanushkhodi off the southeastern coast of India. His full name is Avul Pakir Jainulabdin Abdul Kalam his father Jainulabdi

n was an Imam and owner of a boat that he used to give on rent for tourists in Rameshwaram. His mother was  Ashiamma who was a housewife he had 3 brothers and a sister. In his childhood Kalam used to sell the newspaper to support his family income. In his early school years, Kalam was an average student but his teachers used to refer him as a hardworking and sincere student. He went to Swartz Higher Secondary School, and then to St. Joseph's college &
through that college he earned Bsc. Physics degree.

Rise to the presidency and nickname "missile man".

        For fulfillment of his well-cherished dream of being a fighter plane pilot, he decided to take a degree in Aerospace engineering & he got his degree through Madras Institute of Technology. But as we know that God always has better plans for us and the same happened with Kalam also and he could not become a pilot by only one position as there were only 8 positions and kalam got 9th rank. After that Kalam decided to work with the Defence  Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Where he was working as a senior scientific assistant in 1958. kalam was also involved in  Incospar Committee where he worked with Vikram Sarabhai. In 1969 he was appointed to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he started working as project director for the satellite launch program and they succeeded in launching SLV-III which was the first satellite vehicle designed and produced in the land of India. Looking towards his great achievement Indian gov. gave him permission to start Indian Missile Program. Through that program, Kalam and his team were able to produce great missiles for India and because of that achievements, he got the nickname, Missile Man. 

        Kalam was also a key figure in the nuclear tests completed in 1998 in which five nuclear devices were detonated in the deserts of Rajasthan. Although tests resulted in condemnation kalam was treated as a hero. In 2002 Kalam was nominated for the presidency by the National Democratic Alliance because of his great personality and love for the nation he also got the support of the Samajwadi Party and Congress Party in this election he got more than 9 lacs vote while his opponent could only get near about 1 lac votes and with this, he became Indias 11th president and people started calling him Peoples President.

         

Death and his legacy:

        On 27 July 2015, he took his last breath in this world while delivering a lecture to the students at IIM Shilong.

       He was granted the Padma Bhushan (1983), Padma Vibhushan (1990) Bharat Ratna India's highest civilian award for his contribution to improving India's defense technologies. He had written many books including his autobiography the WINGS OF FIRE.His great work and his great thoughts would India remember forever.