Abdul Kalam, who became popular as ‘People’s President’, passed away on July 27th, 2015 at the age of 83 in Shillong, India.Ī.P.J. He has the unique honour of receiving honorary doctorates from thirty universities and the country's three highest civilian honours - Padma Bhushan (1981), Padma Vibhushan (1990) and Bharat Ratna (1997).įormer President Dr.

Kalam played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India's Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. He was responsible for the development of India's first satellite launch vehicle, the SLV-3 He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People's President.īefore his term as India's president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). He was an Aerospace engineer, professor, and chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. Abdul Kalam, was one of India's most distinguished scientists.

It is a continuing saga, above all, of a journey - individual and collective - that will take India to 2020 and beyond as a developed nation.Īvul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Tamil: அவுல் பகீர் ஜைனுலாப்தீன் அப்துல் கலாம்) usually referred to as A.

It brings together details from his career and presidency that are not generally known as he speaks out for the first time on certain points of controversy. Turning Points takes up the incredible Kalam story from where Wings of Fire left off. Now, as I spoke to the PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, my life was set for an unexpected change.' When I answered, a voice at the other end said, 'The prime minister wants to talk with you.' Some months earlier, I had left my post as Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India to return to teaching. Indeed, the phone was ringing when I entered the room. Someone had been frantically trying to get in touch with me through the day, he said. As I was returning to my room in the evening, the vice-chancellor, Prof. 'It was like any other day on the Anna University campus in Chennai.

Abdul kalam book wings of fire