Thursday 13 June 2013
Kalam was born to a Tamil Muslim family. His father rented boats to fishermen to pay his school fees at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirapalli. After completing school, Kalam studied aeronautical engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology. He began his career in 1958, at the Defence
Research and Development Organization (DRDO). From there, in 1962, he moved on to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where he led several landmark projects, includingone to develop India's first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), with which the 35-kg Rohini I satellite was positioned in the near earth orbit in July 1980, making India one of the world's few developing countries to join the space club.
After 19 years at ISRO, Kalam returned to the DRDO to take charge of India's Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme in 1982. Under his leadership, ISRO indigenously developed and operationalized several strategic short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, including Agni and Prithvi. Due to his success in consolidating India's missile repertoire, he is often referred to as the "Missile Man of India".
In 1998, Kalam was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award. He was earlier awarded the Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Padma Bhushan (1981).
From 1992 to 1999, Kalam was scientific adviserto the Department of Defence Research and Development, and later principal scientific adviser to the Government of India from 1999 to 2001. Among his various visionary strategies and missions in this period were the weaponization of strategic missile systems, the self-reliance of defence systems (through missionprojects such as development of light combat aircraft), and the Pokhran II nuclear tests, rendering India a nuclear weapon state. Kalam was also ex-officio chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet and led the formulation of the India Millennium Mission 2020. As chairman of the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, he helped draw up "Technology Vision 2020", a road map to transition India from developing to developed nation. Appointed professor of technology
A multifaceted personality, Kalam has written several books, including India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium (2002), Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power within India (2003), and the autobiographical Wings of Fire (1999), which have been widely acclaimed and translated into several languages. He is accomplished at playing the rudra veena and is interested in poetry, especially that of poet-saint Tiruvalluvar and nationalist writer Subrahmanya C. Bharati. In fact, Kalam too has a collection of poems to his credit, titled The Life Tree (2005). Kalam has receiv
