10 Interesting Facts about Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

10 facts about ‘People’s President’ Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

“Missile Man of India” and the country’s 11^th President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who left for his heavenly abode on the 27^th of July 2015 after suffering a severe cardiac arrest while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong, was a man of substance. 

His contribution to science, technology and education had been immense and the world will always remember him as the selfless, kind hearted man with a vision that had the potential to change the nation for the better.

Here are 10 interesting facts about #KalamSir that you must know—

1. He started being referred as the “missile man of India” after his contribution in the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology.
2. He hailed from a family that had a progressive outlook towards religious aspects and hence, he had respect and beliefs for multiple religions.
3. His father, who was a boar owner had close ties with the priest of the Rameswaram temple priest—a Hindu.
4. As a child, young Kalam would always get up early at 4.00 a.m., take a bath and head for his mathematics class. His math teacher took only five students in that class and had a condition set for all, that they needed to bathe before they entered his class.
5. Throughout his lifespan, he had been a part of many projects and whenever he took up a new project, he treated it as his last one to ensure that 100% of his attention was devoted to the project.
6. He was honored with the Bharat Ratna award by K.R. Narayanan, who was at that time the President of India.
7. As a child, Kalam used to work part time as a newspaper boy, distributing newspapers in order to contribute to his father’s income.
8. Renowned figure, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai was Kalam’s mentor who guided him with a lot of valuable advices and lessons in life.
9. The first time he was quite disappointed and shattered was when his first major project SLV-3 was unsuccessful.
10. He always wished for flying aircrafts and after studying Physics, and then getting into aeronautical engineering, he was disappointed of not realizing his dreams before and losing three important years of his life.