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A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
ए.पी.जे. अब्दुल कलाम
The Missile Man who became the People's President
Years
1931 – 2015
Known as
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
Birthplace
Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu
Field
Scientists & Thinkers
“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts, and thoughts result in action.”
— Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
The Story
Kalam was born in a humble boatman's family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, in 1931. As a boy he sold newspapers to support his family, but his eyes were on the sky. He studied physics and aerospace engineering, and at the newly formed ISRO he began his life's work in rocketry.
At DRDO and ISRO, Kalam led Bhārat's missile programme — Agni and Prithvi — earning the title 'Missile Man of Bhārat'. He was the driving force behind Pokhran-II, Bhārat's nuclear tests of 1998, and his work gave Bhārat its strategic independence. Yet his dream was never war — it was a developed Bhārat by 2020.
In 2002, Kalam was elected President of Bhārat — the first scientist and the first bachelor to hold the office. He called himself 'a teacher at heart', spending his evenings with schoolchildren, urging them to dream big. On 27 July 2015, he collapsed while delivering a lecture to students in Shillong — dying, fittingly, in the act of teaching.
Core Ideas
Missile Man of Bhārat
Leader of the Agni and Prithvi missile programmes and Pokhran-II.
From Paper Boy to President
The most improbable rise in public life of Bhārat.
Vision 2020
His blueprint for transforming Bhārat into a developed nation.
The People's President
Loved more than any president for his simplicity and warmth.
Teacher to the End
He died delivering a lecture to students — the classroom was his home.
Why it matters today
Kalam inspired a generation to 'dream, dream, dream'. His birthday, 15 October, is celebrated as World Students' Day — a man who rose from a fishing town to light the sky of Bhārat, and whose pen name was 'Missile Man', and whose real name was hope.