It is very easy to defeat
someone, but it very
hard to win someone
Name - Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul
Kalam
Date 15th October, 1931
Birth place Rameshwaram, Tamil
Nadu
Schwartz Higher Secondary School,
Ramanathapuram
Graduation in Physics from Saint Joseph's
College, Tiruchirappalli (1954)
Aerospace engineering from Madras
Institute of Technology (1960)
Chief scientist at the Aeronautical
Development Establishment of Defense
Research and Development Organization
(DRDO)
Project director at
Indian Space
Research
Organization (ISRO)
Chief Executive of
the Integrated
Guided Missile
Development
Program
(I.G.M.D.P)
Chief Scientific
Adviser to the Prime
Minister and the
Secretary of Defense
Research and
Development
Organization
11th President of
India
Achievements
Designed a small helicopter for the Indian Army
India's first project director to launch a satellite
launch vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed
Rohini into the orbit
Develop the Polar SLV and SLV-III projects
Was involved in two projects that were sanctioned to
build missiles - Project Valiant and Project Devil
Under his guidance, different missiles like the Agni,
and the Prithvi were developed
Served as the Chief Project Coordinator for the
Pokhran-II nuclear tests
Along with cardiologist Dr.Soma Raju, Kalam
developed a low cost Coronary stent. It was named as
"Kalam-Raju Stent" honouring them.
In 2012, the duo, designed a rugged tablet PC for
health care in rural areas, which was named as
"Kalam-Raju Tablet.
Awards and recognitions
1981 Padma Bhushan
1990 Padma Vibhushan
1997 Bharat Ratna
1997 - Indira Gandhi Award for National
Integration
1998 Veer Savarkar Award
2000 Ramanujan Award
2007 - King Charles II Medal
2009 - Hoover Medal
2009 - International von Krmn Wings
Award
2013 - Von Braun Award
Books
Take aways from his life
Grew up in poverty and distributed
newspapers as a young boy to contribute to
his fathers meager income.
Used to get up at 4 am, bathe, and then go
for his mathematics class, which was taught
by a teacher who took only five students in
the whole session; and bathing before class
was a condition he had laid to all his
students.
While he was working on a senior class
project, the Dean was dissatisfied with his
lack of progress and threatened to revoke
his scholarship unless the project was
Take aways from his life
Soon after it was declared that Dr. Kalam would be
the next President, he visited a modest school to
deliver a speech. His security detail was minimal, and
he didnt mind taking control of the situation when
the power went off.
President Kalam has given up all his life savings and
salaries to a trust he founded named PURA (Providing
Urban Amenities to Rural Areas)
President Kalam is known to write his own thank you
cards.
Once, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam rejected the suggestion
to put broken glass on the wall of a building that
needed protection. Why? Because broken glass would
be harmful for birds!
Take aways from his life
When youngsters & teenagers requested a meeting
with President Kalam, the President not only obliged
and gave the kids his precious time, but he also
listened carefully to the ideas the kids had!
At a convocation ceremony at IIT Varanasi, Dr Kalam
refused to sit on a chair because it was bigger than
the other chairs. Treating everybody equal is a virtue
not even the greatest of minds manage to conquer.
Who did President Kalam invite as the Presidential
Guests to Kerelas Raj Bhavan during his first visit to
Kerela after becoming the President?
1. A road side cobbler
2. Owner of a very small hotel
We salute the great man who led by example. His was a life well
lived, and dedicated to the service of the nation.
While delivering a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management
Shillong, he collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest
on 27 July 2015, aged 83
Mr. Kalam bagged
the ninth position
out of 25
candidates and
was not recruited
as only eight slots
were available.
I had failed to
realize my dream
of becoming an air
force pilot
It is only when
we are faced with
failure do we
realize that these
resources were
always there
within us. We only
need to find them
and move on with
