Today is the sixth Death Anniversary of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India. He was a great educationalist and he is popularly known as the missile man of our country. A tribute to APJ Abdul Kalam who left indelible marks on several fields ranging from science to politics. On this day let's look at 25 interesting facts from his life.
 |
| Credit: OneIndia News |
1. Kalam was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and aerospace engineering. His father had only one boat to support his family.
2. Kalam was a hardworking boy right from childhood. At the age of five, he started selling newspapers to help his father to support the family.
3. In 1954 he completed his graduation from Saint Joseph’s College Trichurapally . In 1955, he took admission at the Madras Institute of Technology.
4. Kalam missed an opportunity to become a fighter pilot for the Indian Air force. He was on the ninth in the final recruitmentn list and there were only eight openings.
5. Kalam valued Dr. Vikram Sarabhai as his mentor.
6. In 1960, Kalam joined DRDO’s Aeronautical Development Establishment.
7. In 1969, Kalam was made the project director for Satellite Launch Vehicles and was shifted to ISRO. The project became successful, and India was able to launch the Rohini satellite series into Earth’s orbit under the directorship of Kalam.
8. Kalam’s first major project, SLV-3, on 1979 failed, and but he didn't give up.
"When failure occurred, the leader of the organisation owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience," Abdul Kalam had said on ISRO chief Satish Dhawan.
9. Due to his continued, successful work with ballistic missiles and launch vehicle technology APJ Abdul Kalam was considered as the father of the country's missile programe. And we know him as The Missile Man of India.
10. The Pokhran -2 nuclear tests (in 1998) were successful thanks to Kalam's organizational and technical support.
11. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam held the distinction of holding doctorates from over 40 universities across the world. Amazing isn't it?
12. Kalam was honored with many awards: Padma Bhushan (1981) and Padma Vibhushan (1990), the Bharat Ratna (1997).
13. Kalam became the President of India on July 25, 2002. He was known as “the People’s President” because of his simple and down-to-earth lifestyle.
14. Kalam was the youth icon of the country. He had a soft spot for students and children. He inspired millions of youth meeting with them, interacting with them, during his tours across the country. He always believed that children and the youth are the future of any nation.
15. Kalam was examined twice at JFK Airport in New York. He was checked for explosives by the airport staff. This incident was protested by India on the international level.
16. Once a journalist asked him that how would he like to be remembered: as a scientist, a president or a teacher? And Kalam had replied– “I want to be remembered as a teacher first and then as any other person.”
17. Kalam wrote plenty of Tamil poetry and he was fond of of playing Veena.
18. He was awarded the MTV Youth Icon award twice, in 2003 and 2006.
19. Kalam donated his presidential salary to charity. He formed a trust named PURA (Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas), and donated his salaries to this trust.
20. Kalam’s wish was to power the Rashtrapati Bhawan completely with solar power. However, this could not be implemented during the term of his presidency.
21. He published his autobiography, Wings of Fire, which was co-authored with Arun Tiwari. It gives a detailed information of his whole life. The book was translated into 13 languages including French and Chinese.
22. Inspired by his life, a Bollywood movie was also produced with the title, I Am Kalam.
23. Kalam was so beloved that people requested him to take the office again after Pratibha Patil’s term as President. However, he politely refused.
24. Switzerland has declared May 26 as the Science Day in honour of visiting President APJ Abdul Kalam.
25. On his last day, he was delivering a lecture at IIM, Shillong. He was standing at the podium delivering his speech to the students when he suffered a cardiac arrest and fall to the floor. He always had a passion for teaching and working hard. And at the time when death captured him, he was doing what he loved.
Buy Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Abdul Kalam.
If you liked this article please share it with your family and friends.