“Tributes to our former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. He is greatly admired for his contribution to our nation as a scientist and as a President who struck a chord with every section of society," tweeted PM Modi.
Born on October 15, 1931 at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, graduated in Science from St Joseph’s College, Trichy in 1954 and specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1957.
Dr Kalam was a pioneer in fiberglass technology and led a young team to initiate this effort in ISRO from design, development leading to the production of composites rocket motor cases.
The former President made a significant contribution as project director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) which successfully injected the Rohini satellite into the near-earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of Space Club.
He was responsible for the evolution of ISRO’s launch vehicle programme, particularly the PSLV configuration. After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr. Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
