The Scientist - A.P.J Abdul Kalam

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, also known as Bharat Ratna Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam. From 2002 until 2007, he was the 11th President of India, a well-known scientist from India.

On October 15, 1931, in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was born into a poor Muslim Tamil family. His mother Ashiamma was a homemaker, and his father Jainulabudeen owned a boat. There were four older siblings of Kalam. In a close-knit family, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was the youngest kid. 

He enjoyed wonderful ties with all four of his older brothers and was very close to both of his parents, particularly his mother. He was never wed. He remained close to his siblings and their families throughout his life. He was a kind man who frequently gave money to his elderly relatives.

Although his family had lost a significant amount of its riches by the early 20th century, his forebears had formerly been prosperous traders. Growing up in impoverished circumstances, Kalam was forced to work while attending school to supplement his family's meagre income. 

In order to support his father, he delivered newspapers. He was an intelligent little child who had a natural curiosity and eagerness to study new things. After completing his education at Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation School, he went on to Saint Joseph's College in Tiruchirappalli to study physics, where he graduated in 1954. He then enrolled in Madras Institute of Technology to study aerospace engineering, where he eventually graduated in 1960. His childhood passion was to fly fighter planes, but he came very close to not realising it.

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam began working as a scientist at the Defence Research and Development Organization's Aeronautical Development Establishment in 1960, following his graduation.He created a tiny helicopter for the Indian army at the beginning of his career.

• He also served on the INCOSPAR committee, working under the esteemed physicist Vikram Sarabhai..

• In 1963–1964, he paid visits to the Wallops Flight Facility, the Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, and NASA's Langley Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia. This visit served as motivation for him to start working independently at DRDO in 1965 on an expandable rocket project.

• After being moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1969, he assumed the role of Project Director for the country's first-ever indigenous satellite launch vehicle, SLV-III.

• He started working on the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) in the 1970s. India's PSLV project, which was eventually successful, was created to enable the country to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into Sun-synchronous orbits. The project was first launched on September 20, 1993.

• The Indian Ministry of Defence started the Integrated Guided Missile Development effort (IGMDP) in the early 1980s. The DRDO, in collaboration with other government agencies, was in charge of this effort. In 1983, Kalam returned to DRDO as the Chief Executive of the IGMDP after being invited to take the project's direction.

• Under the capable direction of Kalam, the IGMDP was a huge success, producing several successful missiles, such as the first Prithvi missile in 1988 and the Agni missile in 1989. The nickname "Missile Man" was given to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam because of his accomplishments as the director of the IGMDP.

• Dr. Kalam oversaw Project Valiant and Project Devil, which sought to create ballistic missiles utilising the successful SLV program's technology. It is known that when the Union Cabinet rejected these aerospace programmes, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used her discretionary powers to sanction secret funding.

• On the suggestion of the former Defence Minister R. Venkataraman, Drs. Kalam and Arunachalam worked on creating a quiver of missiles rather than one at a time. It was called the Integrated Guided Missile Development programme, and Dr. Kalam became its Chief Executive.

• He was a key player in the Pokhran-II nuclear bomb test explosions, which took place at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in May 1998 and involved five nuclear bombs in all, in the late 1990s. India was proclaimed a nuclear state by then-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after these tests were successful and made Kalam a national hero.

• In 1992, his growing involvement with government organisations resulted in his appointment as the Defence Minister's Scientific Adviser. He was given the title of cabinet minister and appointed as the Government of India's Principal Scientific Adviser in 1999.

• A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was not only a bright scientist but also a visionary. In 1998, he put up the idea of Technology Vision 2020, a national plan of action aimed at turning India into a developed nation by 2020. In order to do so, he made a number of recommendations, including increased agricultural output, technical advancements, and nuclear empowerment.

The two major political parties in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress, supported him when he was elected in 2002 to replace Lakshmi Sehgal.  He emerged as the nation's most beloved leader, earning the moniker "People's President." However, he came under fire for failing to respond in a meaningful way to the mercy petitions that death row inmates sent to him while he was in office. During his five years in office, he only addressed one of the twenty-one mercy petitions that were filed with him. He resigned as president on July 25, 2007, after deciding not to run for office again in 2007.

• He was the first man without a wife to hold the office of president and live at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

• Before being elected to the presidency, Kalam became the third President of India to receive the Bharat Ratna

• It was reported that he would pen his own thank-you notes in his own handwriting, with personalised notes.In addition to being a devout Muslim, he read the Bhagavad Gita and was knowledgeable with Hindu customs.

He did not stop working until the very end. On July 27, 2015, he fell during a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management Shillong and was taken to Bethany Hospital by ambulance. He was pronounced dead at 7:45 p.m. after a heart attack. As a gesture of respect, the Indian government announced a seven-day period of state mourning.

After that, his body was transferred to Delhi, Madurai, and lastly Rameswaram, where on July 30, 2015, he was buried at Pei Karumbu Ground with full state honours. More than 350,000 people attended his final rituals, including the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka as well as the prime minister.

He also taught technology at Banaras Hindu University, Anna University, and the International Institute of Information Technology in Hyderabad during the years after his president. In addition, he was the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram's chancellor.

He started a campaign in 2012 called "What Can I Give Movement" to help young people adopt a "giving" mindset and be inspired to make modest but meaningful contributions to the development of their country.