Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and politician who served as India’s 11th President from 2002 to 2007. Born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he majored in Physics and Aerospace Engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, primarily at the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), where he was closely involved in India’s civilian space program and military missile development efforts. . As a result, he became known as the ‘Indian Rocket Man’ for his involvement in the development of ballistic missiles and rocket technology. He also played a significant organizational, technical and political role in India’s Pokran II nuclear test in 1998 for the first time since India’s first nuclear test in 1974.
Kalam was elected India’s 11th president in 2002, supported by both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely known as “President of the People,” he returned to civic life in teaching, writing and public service after his one term in office. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna Award, India’s highest civilian honor.
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on October 15, 1931 to a Tamil Muslim family at the Rameswaram pilgrimage center on Pamban Island. His father Jainulabdeen Marakayar was a boat owner and Imam of the local mosque. His mother Ashiamma was a housewife. His father owned a ferry that carried Hindu pilgrims back and forth between Rameshwaram and the now-uninhabited Dhanushkodi. Karam was the youngest of his four brothers and his one sister in his family. His ancestors were wealthy Malacaya merchants, landowners with numerous estates and vast tracts of land. After graduating from Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, Karam became a member of the Defense Research and Development Agency and later joined the Aeronautical Development Agency of the Defense Research and Development Organization as a scientist. He started his career designing small hovercraft, but was unsure about his choice of work at DRDO.
