Apj Abdul Kalam the Scientist
Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Tamil: அவுல் பகீர் ஜைனுலாப்தீன் அப்துல் கலாம்; born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu, India, usually referred to as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam^, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007.[2] During his term as The President, he was popularly known as the People's President[3][4], and a poll conducted by news channel CNN-IBN named him "India's Best President".
Before his term as India's president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO andISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.[5]. In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer.
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.[6] He is a professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.
With the death of R. Venkataraman on January 27, 2009, Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.[2]
Political views
APJ Abdul Kalam views on certain issues have been espoused by him in his book India 2020where he strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.
Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology.
Before his term as India's president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO andISRO. He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology.[5]. In India he is highly respected as a scientist and as an engineer.
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.[6] He is a professor at Anna University (Chennai) and adjunct/visiting faculty at many other academic and research institutions across India.
With the death of R. Venkataraman on January 27, 2009, Kalam became the only surviving former President of India.[2]
Political views
APJ Abdul Kalam views on certain issues have been espoused by him in his book India 2020where he strongly advocates an action plan to develop India into a knowledge superpower and into a developed nation by the year 2020. Kalam is credited with the view that India ought to take a more assertive stance in international relations; he regards his work on India's nuclear weapons program as a way to assert India's place as a future superpower.
Kalam continues to take an active interest in other developments in the field of science and technology as well. He has proposed a research programme for developing bio-implants. He is a supporter of Open source software over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of open source software on a large scale will bring more people the benefits of information technology.