Former President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, to inaugurate the International Space Security Conference’
Born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu, southern parts of India, Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, specialized in Aeronautical Engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology. Dr Kalam has made significant contributions as Project Director to develop India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III), which successfully injected the Rohini satellite into near earth orbit in July 1980 and made India an exclusive member of the Space Club. He was responsible for the evolution of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) launch vehicle programme.
After working for two decades in ISRO and mastering launch vehicle technologies, Dr Kalam took up the responsibility of developing Indigenous Guided Missiles at the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), as the Chief Executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme. He was the Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development from July 1992 to December 1999.
As Chairman of the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), he generated the Technology Vision 2020 document, which gave a road map for transforming India from the present developing status to a developed nation.
Dr Kalam has served as the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, in the rank of Cabinet Minister from November 1999 to November 2001. Dr Kalam was also the Chairman, Ex-officio, of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SACC) to the Cabinet. Dr Kalam took up academic pursuit as Professor, Technology & Societal Transformation at Anna University, Chenai from November 2001 and was involved in teaching and research tasks. Above all, he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country. Dr Kalam is one of the most distinguished scientists of India with the unique honour of receiving honourary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions. He is recipient of several awards and Fellow of many professional institutions. Dr APJ Adul Kalam has been awarded the coveted civilian awards - Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1997. Dr Kalam became the 11th President of India on 25th July 2002 and served till end July 2007. His focus is on transforming India into a developed nation by 2020. Currently he is engaged in various teaching assignments.
