(Introduction – Birth – Family- Education – Work – Books – Awards – Inspiration + Death)
Abdul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul kalam, the famous scientist and India’s 11th President (2005-2007) was born on 15 October 1931 at Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, in a Tamil Muslim family.
His father, Mr.Jainulabdeen was a boat owner and an imam in the local mosque. His mother, Mrs. Ashiamma was a housewife. Dr.Kalam even worked as a paperboy to support his father financially. He had four brothers and one sister.
He did his secondary education at Schwartz high school in Ramanathapuram, B.Sc. (Physics) at St .Joseph’s college, Tiruchirapally and Aerospace Enginerring at Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai in 1960.
Dr Kalam joined Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as a scientist and started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army. In 1969, he 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). He 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 important role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998.
He also wrote many books, like- Wings of Fire, My Journey, India 2020, Turning Points, Indomitable Spirit,etc. He was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1997, the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1990.
While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management, Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83. But his inspirational speech “Dream is not what you see in sleep, but what does not let you sleep” will ring in our ears forever.