Age, Biography, and Wiki
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was born on October 15, 1931, in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, to Jainulabdeen Marakayar and Ashiamma. He passed away on July 27, 2015, at the age of 83. Kalam's life was marked by his dedication to science and public service. He is remembered for his pivotal role in India's space and missile development programs and his term as President of India.
| Occupation | Politician |
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| Date of Birth | 15 October 1931 |
| Age | 93 Years |
| Birth Place | Rameswaram, Madras Presidency, British India (present day Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | India |
| Date of death | 27 July, 2015 |
| Died Place | Shillong, Meghalaya, India |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm).
- Weight: Not publicly disclosed.
- Measurements: Not available.
| Height | 5 feet 6 inches |
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Dating & Relationship Status
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam remained a bachelor throughout his life, dedicating himself to his work and public service.
His father, Jainulabdeen Marakayar, was a boat owner and imam of a local mosque, and his mother, Ashiamma, was a housewife. His father owned a boat that ferried Hindu pilgrims between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi.
Religion and spirituality were very important to Kalam throughout his life. He was a practising Sunni Muslim, and daily namaz and fasting during Ramadan were integral to his life. His father was an imam of a mosque, and had strictly instilled these Islamic customs in his children. His father had also impressed upon the young Kalam the value of interfaith respect and dialogue. As Kalam recalled: "Every evening, my father A. P. Jainulabdeen, an imam, Pakshi Lakshmana Sastry, the head priest of the Ramanathaswamy Hindu temple, and a church priest used to sit with hot tea and discuss the issues concerning the island." Such early exposure convinced Kalam that the answers to India's multitudinous issues lay in "dialogue and cooperation" among the country's religious, social, and political leaders. Moreover, since Kalam believed that "respect for other faiths" was one of the key cornerstones of Islam, and he remarked: "For great men, religion is a way of making friends; small people make religion a fighting tool."
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Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his death, Kalam's net worth was estimated to be around $2 million. His salary as President of India was modest, reflecting his commitment to simplicity and public service.
Kalam was the youngest of four brothers and a sister in the family. His ancestors had been wealthy Marakayar traders and landowners, with numerous properties and large tracts of land. Marakayar are a Muslim ethnic group found in coastal Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka who claim descent from Arab traders and local women. The family business had involved trading goods and transporting passengers between the Indian mainland and the Pamban Island and to and from Sri Lanka. With the opening of the Pamban Bridge connecting Pamban Island to mainland India in 1914, the businesses failed. As a young boy, he delivered newspapers to support the family's meager income.
Following his death, the people of India paid tributes on social media. The Government of India declared a seven-day state mourning period as a mark of respect. Various leaders from India and abroad condoled the death of Kalam. Kalam's body was flown to New Delhi on the morning of 28 July, where dignitaries including then president, vice president, and prime minister paid their last respects. His body was placed in his Delhi residence for public viewing. On 29 July, his body was flown to the town of Mandapam via Madurai, and was carried towards his home town of Rameswaram by road. His body was displayed in an open area to allow the public to pay their final respects until 8p.m. that evening. On 30 July 2015, the former president was laid to rest at Rameswaram's Pei Karumbu ground with full state honours with over 350,000 people in attendance.
Career, Business, and Investments
Kalam's career spanned over four decades, primarily at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He was instrumental in developing India's civilian space program and military missile technology. His role in the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998 was significant. Kalam did not have notable business investments, as he focused more on public service and scientific contributions.
After graduating from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1960, Kalam became a member of the Defence Research & Development Service and joined the Aeronautical Development Establishment of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as a scientist. During his early career, he was involved in the design of small hovercraft, and remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO. Later, he joined the Indian National Committee for Space Research, working under renowned space scientist Vikram Sarabhai. He was interviewed and recruited into Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) by H. G. S. Murthy, the first director of the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.
Kalam's desire to meet spiritual leaders led him to meet Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the Hindu guru of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), who Kalam would come to consider his ultimate spiritual teacher and guru. Kalam and Pramukh Swami met eight times over a fourteen-year period and on his first meeting on 30 June 2001, Kalam described being immediately drawn to Pramukh Swami's simplicity and spiritual purity. Kalam stated that he was inspired by Pramukh Swami throughout their numerous interactions, and recalled being moved by Swami's equanimity and compassion, citing this incident as one of his motivations for writing his experiences as a book later. Summarising the effect that Pramukh Swami had on him, Kalam stated that "[Pramukh Swami] has indeed transformed me. He is the ultimate stage of the spiritual ascent in my life ... Pramukh Swamiji has put me in a God-synchronous orbit. No manoeuvres are required any more, as I am placed in my final position in eternity."
Social Network
Although Kalam was not active on social media platforms during his lifetime, his legacy continues to inspire millions through various social media platforms and educational initiatives.
On 10 June 2002, the National Democratic Alliance which was in power at the time, expressed its intention to nominate Kalam for the post of the President of India. His candidature was backed by the opposition parties including the Samajwadi Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. After the support for Kalam, incumbent president K. R. Narayanan chose not to seek a re-election. Kalam said of the announcement of his candidature:
Kalam set a target of interacting with 100,000 students during the two years after his resignation from the post of scientific adviser in 1999. He explained, "I feel comfortable in the company of young people, particularly high school students. Henceforth, I intend to share with them experiences, helping them to ignite their imagination and preparing them to work for a developed India for which the road map is already available." His dream is to let every student to light up the sky with victory using their latent fire in the heart. He had an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology such as developing biomedical implants. He also supported open source technology over proprietary software, predicting that the use of free software on a large scale would bring the benefits of information technology to more people.
One component of Kalam's widespread popularity among diverse groups in India, and an enduring aspect of his legacy, is the syncretism he embodied in appreciating various elements of the many spiritual and cultural traditions of India. In addition to his faith in the Quran and Islamic practice, Kalam was well-versed in Hindu traditions, learnt Sanskrit. and read the Bhagavad Gita. In 2002, in one of his early speeches to Parliament after becoming the president, he reiterated his desire for a more united India, stating that "During the last one year I met a number of spiritual leaders of all religions ... and I would like to endeavour to work for bringing about unity of minds among the divergent traditions of our country". Describing Kalam as a unifier of diverse traditions, Shashi Tharoor remarked, "Kalam was a complete Indian, an embodiment of the eclecticism of India's heritage of diversity". Former deputy prime minister L. K. Advani concurred that Kalam was "the best exemplar of the Idea of India, one who embodied the best of all the cultural and spiritual traditions that signify India's unity in immense diversity.
Kalam's birthday is celebrated as World Students' Day in India. In 2012, Kalam was ranked second in the Greatest Indian poll conducted by Outlook. In September 2014, India and the United States launched the Fulbright-Kalam climate fellowship which enabled six Indian doctoral students and researchers to work with institutions in the US for a period of 6–12 months. In 2015, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced that Kalam's birthday, 15 October, would be observed as "Youth Renaissance Day". It also instituted the "Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Award" constituting a gold medal, a certificate and inr 500000, to be awarded annually on the Indian Independence Day, to residents of the state with achievements in promoting scientific growth, the humanities or the welfare of students. On the anniversary of Kalam's birth in 2015, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) released topics on his name as a part of the CBSE expression series. On the same day, India Post released postage stamps commemorating the 84th anniversary of Kalam's birth.
Education
- Schooling: Ramanathapuram Schwartz Matriculation School.
- B.Sc. in Physics: St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli.
- Aerospace Engineering: Madras Institute of Technology.
Kalam's educational background laid the foundation for his career in aerospace engineering and science administration. He was also a recipient of seven honorary doctorates.
Born and raised in a Muslim family in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, Kalam studied physics and aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts. He was known as the "Missile Man of India" for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organisational, technical, and political role in Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, India's second such test after the first test in 1974.
While delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong, Kalam collapsed and died from an apparent cardiac arrest on 27 July 2015, aged 83. Thousands attended the funeral ceremony held in his hometown of Rameswaram, where he was buried with full state honours. A memorial was inaugurated near his home town in 2017.
In his school years, Kalam got average grades but was described by his teachers as a bright and hardworking student with a strong desire to learn. He spent hours learning Mathematics. He did his schooling at Schwartz Higher Secondary School in Ramanathapuram. He then graduated in Physics from St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, in 1954.
Kalam moved to Madras in 1955 to study aerospace engineering at the Madras Institute of Technology. While he was working on a class project, the Dean of the institution was dissatisfied with his lack of progress and threatened to revoke his scholarship unless the project was finished within the next three days. Kalam met the deadline, impressing the Dean, who later said to him, "I was putting you under stress and asking you to meet a difficult deadline." Later, he narrowly missed out on his dream of becoming a fighter pilot, as he placed ninth in qualifiers, and only eight positions were available in the Indian Air Force.
In May 1974, Kalam was invited by Raja Ramanna to witness the country's first nuclear test Smiling Buddha as the representative of Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, even though he was officially not part of the project. In the 1970s, Kalam directed two projects, Project Devil and Project Valiant, which sought to develop ballistic missiles using the technology from the successful SLV programme. Despite the disapproval of the union cabinet, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi allotted funds for these aerospace projects under Kalam's directorship through her discretionary powers. Kalam also played a major role in convincing the cabinet to conceal the true nature of these classified projects. His research and leadership brought him recognition in the 1980s, which prompted the government to initiate an advanced missile programme under his directorship.
Kalam served as the chief scientific adviser to the prime minister and secretary of the DRDO from July 1992 to December 1999. He played a key organisational, political and technical role in the Pokhran-II nuclear tests conducted in May 1998. Along with Rajagopala Chidambaram, he served as the chief project coordinator for the tests. Media coverage of Kalam during this period made him the country's best known nuclear scientist. However, the director of the site test, K. Santhanam, said that the thermonuclear bomb had been a "fizzle" and criticised Kalam for issuing an incorrect report. The claim was refuted and rejected by Kalam and Chidambaram.
On 18 June, Kalam filed his nomination papers in the Indian Parliament, accompanied by then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior cabinet members. He faced off against Lakshmi Sahgal, and the polling for the presidential election was held on 15 July 2002, in the Indian parliament and the state assemblies, with the media predicting a win for Kalam. The counting was held on 18 July, and Kalam won the elections after securing 922,884 electoral votes as against the 107,366 votes won by Sahgal. He was sworn in as the 11th president of India on 25 July 2002. He was the first scientist and the first bachelor to occupy the top chair at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
After leaving office, Kalam returned to teaching, and became a visiting professor at various institutions. He became a visiting professor at IIM Shillong, an honorary professor at his alma mater Anna University in Chennai, and an honorary fellow of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru. In September 2007, he became the first chancellor of the newly established Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram. He also conducted lectures for management students in India, and visited China twice at the invitation of the Chinese government to conduct sessions at the Peking University.
On 27 July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on "Creating a Livable Planet Earth" at IIM Shillong. While climbing a flight of stairs, he experienced some discomfort, but was able to enter the auditorium after a brief rest. At around 6:35 p.m. IST, after five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition, and upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or any other signs of life. Despite being placed in the intensive care unit, he was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45p.m. His purported last words to his aide Srijan Pal Singh were: "Funny guy! Are you doing well?"
Kalam was the youngest of five siblings, the eldest of whom was a sister, Asim Zohra (d. 1997), followed by three elder brothers: Mohammed Lebbai (5 November 1916–7 March 2021), Mustafa Kalam (d. 1999) and Kasim Mohammed (d. 1995). He was close to his elder siblings and their extended families throughout his life, and would regularly send small sums of money to his older siblings, though he himself remaining a lifelong bachelor.
"I have identified five areas where India has a core competence for integrated action: (1) agriculture and food processing; (2) education and healthcare; (3) information and communication technology; (4) infrastructure, reliable and quality electric power, surface transport and infrastructure for all parts of the country; and (5) self-reliance in critical technologies. These five areas are closely inter-related and if advanced in a coordinated way, will lead to food, economic and national security."
Several places and locations have been named after Kalam. In August 2015, Aurangzeb Road in New Delhi was named after Kalam as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Road. In September 2015, the national missile test site in Odisha in Wheeler Island was renamed as Abdul Kalam Island. In October 2015, a 6180 m peak near the Bara Shigri Glacier in the Himalayas was named as Mount Kalam. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex, a missile research facility in Hyderabad is named after him. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Science City in Patna, and Dr. Abdul Kalam Science Centre and Planetarium in Puducherry are named in honour of Kalam. Several universities, and other educational institutions and other locations were renamed or named in honour of Kalam.
