Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
The man who known as the missile man of india
Indian scientist and politician who played a leading role in the development of India's missile and nuclear weapons
programs. He was president of India from 2002 to 2007
- 1931 October : Born on 15 October 1931 to a Tamil Muslim family in the pilgrimage centre of Rameswaram on Pamban Island, then in the Madras Presidency and now in the State of Tamil Nadu.
- 1955 : Kalam moved to Madras to study aerospace engineering in Madras Institute of Technology.
- 1960 : As a scientist after becoming a member of the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS). He started his career by designing a small hovercraft, but remained unconvinced by his choice of a job at DRDO
- 1963 : In 1963 to 1964, he visited NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; and Wallops Flight Facility.
- 1965 : Kalam had first started work on an expandable rocket project independently at DRDO in 1965.
- 1969 : In 1969, Kalam received the government's approval and expanded the programme to include more engineers.
- 1969 July : Kalam was transferred to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) where he was the project director of India's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) which successfully deployed the Rohini satellite in near-earth orbit in July 1980;
- 1981 : The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1981 and the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Government.
- 1992 July : Kalam served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister and Secretary of the Defence Research and Development Organisation from July 1992 to December 1999.
- 1997 : Kalam received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, for his contribution to the scientific research and modernisation of defence technology in India.
- 1998 : In 1998, along with cardiologist Soma Raju, Kalam developed a low cost coronary stent, named the "Kalam-Raju Stent".
- 1999 : Wings of Fire: An Autobiography by A P J Abdul Kalam.
- 2001 December : Perhaps the most notable plea was from Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri terrorist who was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of India in 2004.
- 2002 : He won the 2002 presidential election with an electoral vote of 922,884, surpassing the 107,366 votes won by Lakshmi Sahgal.
- 2002 25 July : Kalam became the 11th President of India, succeeding K. R. Narayanan.
- 2012 May : Kalam launched a programme for the youth of India called the What Can I Give Movement, with a central theme of defeating corruption.
- 2013 : He was the recipient of the Von Braun Award from the National Space Society "to recognize excellence in the management and leadership of a space-related project". Following his death, Kalam received numerous tributes.
- 2015 15 October : The Tamil Nadu state government announced that his birthday, 15 October, would be observed across the state as "Youth Renaissance Day;" the state government further instituted the "Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award," constituting an 8-gram gold medal, a certificate and ₹500,000 (US$7,800).
- 2015 : On 27 July 2015, Kalam travelled to Shillong to deliver a lecture on "Creating a Livable Planet Earth" at the Indian Institute of Management 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, only five minutes into his lecture, he collapsed. He was rushed to the nearby Bethany Hospital in a critical condition; upon arrival, he lacked a pulse or any other signs of life. Despite being placed in the intensive care unit, Kalam was confirmed dead of a sudden cardiac arrest at 7:45 p.m IST. His last words, to his aide Srijan Pal Singh, were reportedly: "Funny guy! Are you doing well?"
A dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep
-- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam