ABOUT A.P.J ABDUL KALAM

          A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
    

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam  (born 15 October 1931) usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a renowned aerospace engineer, professor (of Aerospace engineering), and first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram (IIST), who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People's President. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor in 1997.

Before his term as India's president, he worked as an aerospace engineer with DRDO and ISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. Kalam 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. Dr. Kalam has even been circled with various controversies as many scientific experts called him a man with no authority over "nuclear physics" and a man who just carried the works of Dr. Homi Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. 

He is currently the a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Chancellor of Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram, a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Anna University (Chennai), a visiting professor at Indian Institute of Management Indore, and an adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.

In May 2011, Dr. Kalam launched his mission for the youth of the nation called the What Can I Give Movement.Dr. Kalam better known as a scientist, also has special interest in the field of arts like writing Tamil poems, and also playing the music instrument Veenai.

Early life and education
Kalam see the world without fear.He spent most of his childhood running into financial problems and started working at an early age to supplement his family's income.Kalam was brought up in a multi-religious, tolerant society, with Kalam strictly following his religious routine. Kalam, as a child, had a tough routine - he would start his day by getting up at 4:00 am; study and review his homework before going to school to attend the mathematics class as his first class of the day.After completing school, Kalam along with his cousin Samsuddin Kalam distributed papers in order to financially contribute to his father's income. In his school years, Kalam was described as a mediocre student who had average grades in his class, but a bright and hardworking student who had a strong desire to learn.[8] Kalam spent hours on his studies, especially in mathematics, and his teachers always regarded him as a student who made an effort in his studies.

After completing his school education, Kalam went onto to attend the Saint Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli where he graduated in Physics in 1954 but towards the end he was not enthusiastic about seeing himself as a physicist.Kalam soon discovered aerospace engineering at Madras, and he regretted the loss of the four years spent in physics.In 1955, Kalam moved to Madras and began taking courses on Aerospace engineering.While Kalam was working on a senior class project, the Dean of the Engineering came by to see Kalam's progress.The Dean was dissatisfied with Kalam's progress and said that his scholarship would be revoked if the project wasn't finished within the next two days. Kalam worked tirelessly on his project, and met the deadline. His tireless effort impressed the Dean who said, "It was a test, and under extreme stress, Kalam met a difficult deadline to complete the project".

In 1957, Kalam gained B.Sc. in Aerospace engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology.Kalam later obtained advanced master's and doctorate degree in his respected field from the same institution.

Career as scientist
After graduation from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT - Chennai) in 1960, Kalam joined Aeronautical Development Establishment of DRDO as a chief scientist. There, Kalam started his career by designing a small helicopter for the Indian Army, but remained unconvinced with the choice of his job.Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR commitee working under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai. 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). Joining ISRO was one of Kalam's biggest achievements in life and is said to have found himself when he started to work on the SLV project. However, Kalam first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965. In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the program to many engineers. In 1979, the first maiden flight of this project was made and in 1980, country's first satellite Rohini was launched with this rocket.

From 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar SLV and SLV-III project which proved to be successful. In 1974, Kalam was shifted to the Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), a subsidiary of DRDO. Kalam was invited to witnessed the country's first nuclear test, Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in developing or even taken part in the test site preparations or weapon designing. Kalam arrived at the test site on the invitation of Dr. Raja Ramanna. In 1970s, a landmark was passed when ISRO first launched into space the locally built Rohini-1, using the SLV rocket.In the 1970s, Kalam also directed the Project Devil and Project Valiant to developed the ballistic missiles from the technology of Kalam's successful SLV programme. Despite the disapproval of Union Cabinet, Premier Indira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam's directorship. Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects.

His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile program under his directorship. As Chief Executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (I.G.M.D.P), he played a major part in developing many missiles in India including Agni and Prithvi although the entire project has been criticized for being overrun and mismanaged.He was the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of Defense Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period where he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with R. Chidambaram during the testing phase. Photos and snapshots of him taken by the Media elevated Kalam as the country's top nuclear scientist although Kalam was not directly involved with the nuclear program at the time.

Future India: 
2020In 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 has been reported that there is a considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.

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.

Kalam observes strict personal discipline, vegetarianism, teetotalism and celibacy. Kalam is a scholar of Thirukkural; in most of his speeches, he quotes at least one kural. Kalam has written several inspirational books, most notably his autobiography Wings of Fire, aimed at motivating Indian youth. Another of his books, Guiding Souls: Dialogues on the Purpose of Life reveals his spiritual side. He has written poems in Tamil as well. It has been reported that there is considerable demand in South Korea for translated versions of books authored by him.

Dr. Kalam received an honorary doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University.

With the death of R. Venkataraman on January 27, 2009, Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.