A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015)

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1. “Dr. APIS”
   SCIENCE SPECTRUM

   Objective: To Establish the Repository of Contributions of Eminent Scholars and Information on Science and Culture For The Society. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
   Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A. P. J.” Abdul Kalam : Scientist of the Day (15 October). ———————————————————————- ———————————————————————-
   (Birth: 15 October, 1931)
   (Death: 27 July, 2015)
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   Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen “A. P. J.” Abdul Kalam (15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) was the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. A career scientist turned politician, Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India’s civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.[1] He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of Indiafor his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.[2][3][4] He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.[5]
   Kalam was elected as the 11th President of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the “People’s President,”[6] he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service after a single term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
   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.[7] Thousands including national-level dignitaries attended the funeral ceremony held in his hometown of Rameshwaram, where he was buried with full state honours.[8]
   After graduating from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, Kalam joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a scientist. He started his career by designing a smallhovercraft, but remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO.[26] Kalam was also part of the INCOSPAR committeeworking under Vikram Sarabhai, the renowned space scientist.[13] In 1969, Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the project director of India’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980; Kalam had 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 programme to include more engineers.[25]
   In 1963 to 1964, he visited NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Wallops Flight Facility.[11][27] Between the 1970s and 1990s, Kalam made an effort to develop the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) and SLV-III projects, both of which proved to be successful.
   Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country’s first nuclear test Smiling Buddha as the representative of TBRL, even though he had not participated in its development. In the 1970s, Kalam also directed two projects, Project Devil and Project Valiant, which sought to develop ballistic missiles from the technology of the successful SLV programme.[28] Despite the disapproval of the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted secret funds for these aerospace projects through her discretionary powers under Kalam’s directorship.[28]Kalam played an integral role convincing the Union Cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified aerospace projects.[28] His research and educational leadership brought him great laurels and prestige in the 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile programme under his directorship.[28] Kalam and Dr V S Arunachalam, metallurgist and scientific adviser to the Defence Minister, worked on the suggestion by the then Defence Minister, R. Venkataraman on a proposal for simultaneous development of a quiver of missiles instead of taking planned missiles one after another.[29] R Venkatraman was instrumental in getting the cabinet approval for allocating ₹388 crores for the mission, named Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) and appointed Kalam as the chief executive.[29] Kalam played a major part in developing many missiles under the mission including Agni, an intermediate range ballistic missile and Prithvi, the tactical surface-to-surface missile, although the projects have been criticised for mismanagement and cost and time overruns.[29][30]
   Kalam served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999. The Pokhran-II nuclear tests were conducted during this period in which he played an intensive political and technological role. Kalam served as the Chief Project Coordinator, along with Rajagopala Chidambaram, during the testing phase.[11][31] Media coverage of Kalam during this period made him the country’s best known nuclear scientist.[32]However, the director of the site test, K Santhanam, said that the thermonuclear bomb had been a “fizzle” and criticisied Kalam for issuing an incorrect report.[33] Both Kalam and Chidambaram dismissed the claims.[34]
   In 1998, along with cardiologist Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost coronary stent, named the “Kalam-Raju Stent”.[35][36] In 2012, the duo designed a rugged tablet computer for health care in rural areas, which was named the “Kalam-Raju Tablet”.[37]
   References:
   1. editor; Ramchandani (2000). Dale Hoiberg, ed. A to C (Abd Allah ibn al-Abbas to Cypress). New Delhi: Encyclopædia Britannica (India). p. 2. ISBN 978-0-85229-760-5.
   2. Pruthi, R. K. (2005). “Ch. 4. Missile Man of India”. President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Anmol Publications. pp. 61–76. ISBN 978-81-261-1344-6.
   3. “India’s ‘Mr. Missile’: A man of the people”. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
   4. “Kalam’s unrealised ‘Nag’ missile dream to become reality next year”. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
   5. Sen, Amartya (2003). “India and the Bomb”. In M. V. Ramana; C. Rammanohar Reddy.Prisoners of the Nuclear Dream. Sangam Books. pp. 167–188. ISBN 978-81-250-2477-4.
   6. Amarnath k Menon (28 July 2015). “Why Abdul Kalam was the ‘People’s President'”.DailyO.in. DailyO. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
   7. Rishi Iyengar (28 July 2015). “India Pays Tribute to ‘People’s President’ A.P.J. Abdul Kalam”. Time Inc. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
   8. Neha Singh (30 July 2015). “‘People’s President’ APJ Abdul Kalam Buried with Full State Honours in Rameswaram”. International Business Times. IANS. Retrieved 20 August2015.
   9. b c “APJ Abdul Kalam speaks to Editorial Director M.J. Akbar about presidential elections 2012 : INTERVIEW – India Today”. indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved2015-08-04.
   10. “Dr Abdul Kalam, People’s President in Sri Lanka”. Daily News via HighBeam Research. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
   11. b c d Kalam, Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul; Tiwari, Arun (1 January 1999). Wings of Fire: An Autobiography. Universities Press. ISBN 978-81-7371-146-6. Retrieved 3 May2012.
   12. Jai, Janak Raj (1 January 2003). Presidents of India, 1950–2003. Regency Publications. p. 296. ISBN 978-81-87498-65-0. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
   13. b c d e “Bio-data: Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam”. Press Information Bureau,Government of India. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
   14. “APJ Abdul Kalam, the unconventional President who learnt the art of the political”.
   15. Jump up^ “The greatest student India ever had”.
   16. “Brother awaits Kalam last trip”.
   17. “How two orthodox Brahmins played a crucial role in APJ Abdul Kalam’s childhood”.
   18. “Day before death, Kalam enquired about elder brother’s health”.
   19. “Not aware of any will left by Kalam: nephew”. Times of India. 31 July 2015. Retrieved31 July 2015.
   20. b Sharma, Mahesh; Das, P.K.; Bhalla, P. (2004). Pride of the Nation : Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam. Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 978-81-288-0806-7. Retrieved30 June 2012.
   21. b c d Bhushan, K.; Katyal, G. (2002). A.P.J. Abdul Kalam: The Visionary of India. New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. pp. 1–10,153. ISBN 9788176483803.
   22. K. Raju; S. Annamalai (24 September 2006). “Kalam meets the teacher who moulded him”. The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
   23. Jump up^ Dixit, Sumita Vaid (18 March 2010). “The boy from Rameswaram who became President”. Rediff.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
   24. “Failed in my dream of becoming pilot: Abdul Kalam in new book”. The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
   25. b “Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam”. National Informatics Centre. Retrieved1 March 2012.
   26. Gopalakrishnan, Karthika (23 June 2009). “Kalam tells students to follow their heart”.The Times of India. Chennai, India. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
   27. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. (November 1989). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. pp. 32–. ISSN 0096-3402. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
   28. b c d “Missile Chronology, 1971–1979” (PDF). James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Monterey Institute of International Studies, Nuclear Threat Initiative. July 2003. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
   29. b c “The prime motivator”. Frontline. 22 June – 5 July 2002. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
   30. Pandit, Rajat (9 January 2008). “Missile plan: Some hits, misses”. The Times of India. TNN. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
   31. Jerome M. Conley (2001). Indo-Russian military and nuclear cooperation: lessons and options for U.S. policy in South Asia. Lexington Books. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-7391-0217-6. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
   32. ANI (8 November 2011). “Koodankulam nuclear plant: A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s safety review has failed to satisfy nuke plant protestors, expert laments”. The Economic Times. Chennai, India. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
   33. R., Ramachandran (12–25 September 2009). “Pokhran row”. Frontline. Retrieved5 July 2012.
   34. Hardnews bureau (August 2009). “Pokhran II controversy needless: PM”. Hard News. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
   35. “Story of indigenous stents”. The Hindu-Businessline. India. 15 August 2001.
   36. “The stent man”. Rediff-News. India. 19 December 1998.
   37. Gopal, M. Sai (22 March 2012). “Now, ‘Kalam-Raju tablet’ for healthcare workers”. The Hindu. India. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
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   ———————————————————————————————————————Acknowledgement: Girija Girish Tambe of Vaishnavi Xerox helped for Collection of images in the Science Spectrum of 15 October, 2016. All the mistakes in the collection of information from website, it’s compilation and communication belongs exclusively to : Vitthalrao B. Khyade . Please do excuse for the mistakes. ——————————————————————————————————————–
   “Dr. APIS”, Shrikrupa Residence, Teachers Society, Malegaon Colony (Baramati) Dist. Pune – 413115.
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