Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (

/bdl klm/; born 15 October 1931)

usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is an Indian scientist and administrator who
served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. Kalam was born and raised in
Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, studied physics at the St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, and
aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), Chennai.
Before his term as President, he worked as an Aerospace engineer with Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).[1]
Kalam is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of
ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.[2] 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. Some scientific experts have however called Kalam a
man with no authority over nuclear physics but who just carried on the works of Homi J.
Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai.[3]
Kalam was elected the President of India in 2002, defeating Lakshmi Sahgal and was
supported by both the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, 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,[4] 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 advocated plans to develop India into a developed nation by 2020 in his book India
2020. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India's highest
civilian honour. Kalam is known for his motivational speeches and interaction with the
student community in India.[5] 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 and education

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in a Tamil Muslim family to
Jainulabdeen, a boat owner and Ashiamma, a housewife, at Rameswaram, located in the
Indian state of Tamil Nadu.[6][7][8][9] He came from a poor background and started working at
an early age to supplement his family's income.[10] After completing school, Kalam distributed
newspapers in order to financially contribute to his father's income. [10][11] 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.[11]
"I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father; from my mother, I inherited faith in
goodness and deep kindness as did my three brothers and sisters."
A quote from Kalam's autobiography[8]
After completing his school education at the Rameshwaram Elementary 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.[12] 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.[9] 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". [13]
For him becoming a fighter pilot was a dearest dream but he failed to realize it as he
bagged the ninth position when only eight slots were available in the IAF

Career as scientist
This was my first stage, in which I learnt leadership from three great teachersDr. Vikram Sarabhai, Prof.
Satish Dhawan and Dr. Brahm Prakash. This was the time of learning and acquisition of knowledge for me.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
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. [16]
Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committee working under Vikram Sarabhai, the
renowned space scientist.[9] 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. [1] In 1969, Kalam
received the government's approval and expanded the program to include more engineers.[15]
In 196364, he visited Nasa's Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia, Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Wallops Flight Facility situated at Eastern Shore of
Virginia.[7][17] 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.

Presidency
Kalam served as the 11th President of India, succeeding K. R. Narayanan. He won the 2002
presidential election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing 107,366 votes won by
Lakshmi Sahgal. He served from 25 July 2002 to 25 July 2007.
On 10 June 2002, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which was in power at the time,
expressed to the leader of opposition, Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi that
they would propose Kalam for the post of President. [26] The Samajwadi Party and the
Nationalist Congress Party backed his candidacy.[27][28] After the Samajwadi Party announced
its support for him, Narayanan chose not to seek a second term in office, leaving the field
clear for Kalam.[29]
I am really overwhelmed. Everywhere both in Internet and in other media, I have been asked
for a message. I was thinking what message I can give to the people of the country at this
juncture.
Kalam responding to the announcement of his candidature by Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee[30]
On 18 June, Kalam filed his nomination papers in the Parliament of India, accompanied by
Vajpayee and his senior Cabinet colleagues.[31]
The polling for the presidential election began on 15 July 2002 in the Parliament and the state
assemblies with media claiming that the election was a one-sided affair and Kalam's victory
was a foregone conclusion. The counting was held on 18 July. [32] Kalam won the presidential
election in a highly one-sided contest. He became the 11th president of the Republic of India.
[33]
He moved into the Rashtrapati Bhavan after he was sworn in on 25 July.[34] Kalam was the

third President of India to have been honoured with a Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian
honour, before becoming the President. Dr. Sarvapali Radhakrishnan (1954) and Dr. Zakir
Hussain (1963) were the earlier recipients of Bharat Ratna who later became the President of
India.[35] He was also the first scientist and the first bachelor to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan
Criticisms and controversies

The controversy that surrounds Kalam's role as a nuclear scientist, is the lack of reliable and
factual reporting of the yield of Pokhran-II tests.[57] The director of the site test, K.
Santhanam, publicly admitted that the thermonuclear bomb was a "fizzle" test, criticising
Kalam for issuing the wrong report. [57] However, Kalam dismissed the claims and R.
Chidambaram, a key associate of Pokhran-II, also described these claims as incorrect.[58]
Personal attacks
In spite of his leading role in the development of Indian nuclear programme, Kalam has
received criticism from many of his peers who claimed that he had "no authority" over
nuclear science.[59] Homi Sethna, a chemical engineer criticised Kalam claiming that Kalam
had no background in publishing articles in nuclear science, even in nuclear physics. Sethna
maintained that Kalam received his masters degree in aerospace engineering, which is a
completely different discipline from nuclear engineering, and what various universities
awarded him for his achievements had nothing to do with nuclear physics. Sethna, in his last
interview, maintained that in the 1950s, Kalam had failed advanced physics courses during
his college life and quoted "What does he know (about [nuclear] physics)....?", on the
national television. Homi Sethna also accused Kalam of using his presidency to gain a
national stature of a nuclear scientist.[60]
Others felt that Kalam had never worked in any of the Indian nuclear power plants and had
no role in developing the nuclear weapon which was completed under Raja Ramanna.[61]
Kalam worked as an aerospace engineer in a SLV project in the 1970s and from the 1980s
onwards, as a project director before he moved to Defence Research and Development
Organisation.[62]
In 2008, Indian media questioned his claims about his personal contributions to missile
inventions while working in a classified missile programme. The media questioned Kalam
taking credit of inventing the Agni, Prithvi and Aakash missile system, while all of these
were developed, researched and designed by a group of scientists headed by Kalam and he
was involved in getting the funds and other logistic tasks. Ram Narain Agarwal, former
director, Advanced System Laboratory and former Program Director of Agni missile was
considered to be the real architect behind the successful design of Agni Missile. [62][63] In his
own biography, Kalam credited the development of Agni missile to Dr. Ram Narain Agarwal,
an alumnus of MIT. For the Prithvi missile project, he named Col VJ Sundaram as the brain
behind this project and for the Trishul missile, he gave credit to Commander SR Mohan. [64] In
2006, senior media correspondent Praful Bidwai, in the The Daily Star, wrote that two
aerospace projects, Project Valiant and Project Devil, which were authorised by former Prime
Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi under the directorship of A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, resulted in "total

failure". In the 1980s, these projects were ultimately cancelled by the government under the
pressure of the Indian Army.

Future India: 2020

In his book India 2020, Kalam strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a
knowledge superpower and a developed nation by the year 2020. He regards his work on
India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.
It was reported that, there was a considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions
of books authored by him.[73]
Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and
technology. He has proposed a research program for developing bio-implants. He is a
supporter of Open Source over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of free software
on a large scale will bring the benefits of information technology to more people.
Awards and honours

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Student's Day by United
Nations.[89] He has also received honorary doctorates from 40 universities.[90][91] The
Government of India has honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma
Vibhushan in 1990 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to
the Government.[92] In 1997, Kalam received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna,
for his immense and valuable contribution to the scientific research and modernisation of
defence technology in India.[93] In 2005, Switzerland declared May 26 as science day to
commemorate Kalam's visit in the country.
Year of award or
Name of award or honour
Awarding organisation
honour
2012
Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) Simon Fraser University[95]
2011
IEEE Honorary Membership
IEEE[96]
2010
Doctor of Engineering
University of Waterloo[97]
2009
Honorary Doctorate
Oakland University [98]
2009
Hoover Medal
ASME Foundation, USA [99]
International von Krmn Wings California Institute of Technology,
2009
Award
U.S.A[100]
Doctor of Engineering (Honoris Nanyang Technological University,
2008
Causa)
Singapore[101]
2007
King Charles II Medal
Royal Society, U.K[102][103][104]
2007
Honorary Doctorate of Science University of Wolverhampton, U.K[105]
2000
Ramanujan Award
Alwars Research Centre, Chennai[106]
1998
Veer Savarkar Award
Government of India[9]
Indira Gandhi Award for National
1997
Indian National Congress[9][106]
Integration
1997
Bharat Ratna
Government of India[106][107]
1990
Padma Vibhushan
Government of India[106][108]
1981
Padma Bhushan
Government of India[106][108]
Popular culture

In May 2012, Kalam launched his mission for the youth of the nation called the What Can I
Give Movement with a central theme to defeat corruption.[82][83] He also has interests in
writing Tamil poetry and in playing veenai, a South Indian string instrument.[84]
He was nominated for the MTV Youth Icon of the Year award in 2003[85][86] and in 2006.[87] In
the 2011 Hindi film I Am Kalam, Kalam is portrayed as an extremely positive influence to a
poor but bright Rajasthani boy named Chhotu, who renames himself Kalam in honour of his
idol,