Usually referred to as Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the President of India has also been the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary,
Department of Defence Research & Development, has been appointed Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.
Dr Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. He specialised in Aero-Engineering from Madras Institute of Technology. He initially joined DRDO in 1958 and then joined Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 1963. At ISRO, he initiated fibre reinforced plastics activities. He later joined the Satellite Launch Vehicle team at Thumba and became the Project Director for SLV-3. He has made significant contributions to the Indian Satellite Launch Vehicle. He rejoined DRDO in 1982 and was instrumental in the resurgence of the Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad. Out of his initiative was born the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), which is the most successful Indian military research task to-date. He was also heading other prestigious projects, such as the MBT Arjun and the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) projects.
Dr Abdul Kalam has been a strong advocate of self-reliance in defence technology. A connoisseur of classical Karnatak music, he plays veena in his leisure. He is well-versed and has written poetry in Tamil. Seventeen of his poems were translated into English and published in 1994 as a book titled My Journey. He is also the author of the two books, titled India 2020: A Vision for the new Millennium, 1998; and Wings of Fire: An Autobiography, 1998.
