Abdul Kalam’s twin pillars: Science & the young

“He was a cult figure of science, and brought tremendous energy levels in science not just in India but globally. No one connected science to the common people, to youth, to children in the manner that he did. India has produced a number of outstanding scientists, but somebody had to also champion the cause of science. Kalam did that like no one else could,” Ramasami told The Indian Express.

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The “rockstar scientist” status that Kalam received after the 1998 Pokharan nuclear tests came after rather humble beginnings. He was an engineer, not a scientist, as his detractors — he had a few of them — apparently used to point out. He began his career with DRDO in 1958, and moved to ISRO five years later where he worked on the development of the satellite launch vehicle (SLV), the precursor to the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles (PSLVs) that have launched Chandrayaan and Mangalyaan missions besides a number of others.

After nearly two decades at ISRO, he moved back to DRDO where he conceived the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, a work that later earned him the epithet of ‘Missile Man’.

Former DRDO chief V S Arunachalam, who was instrumental in bringing the Rudraveena-playing missile scientist back to the organisation, said despite being the architect of India’s most successful missile programme, Kalam was a man of peace.

“I have lost an incredibly close and affectionate friend. I remember his smile, his laughter, and his willingness to go the extra mile. Our country has lost a visionary engineer and an unwavering patriot. India’s missile programme and space programme owe so much to his untiring work and collaborative spirit. I remember with gratitude all his work towards peace and prosperity for the country and for the world at large,” he said in a message to The Indian Express from Alaska.

Kalam with US President Barack Obama in January 2015. (Express photo by: Renuka Puri)

Former ISRO chief M Madhavan Nair said the two things that would always get Kalam excited was science and youth.

“He was a scientific leader with exceptional qualities. He wanted to solve people’s problems. I remember the last time we met, he told me to devote myself to solving problems of the common man. Otherwise, there would be no use of the Moon or Mars mission, he told me,” Nair said.

During his presidency, and more vigorously after that, Kalam communicated almost on a daily basis with school and college children. By some estimates, he had talked to over four million children after becoming President.

Another of his favourites was Wheeler’s Island, in the Bay of Bengal off Dhamra coast, where Agni, Prithvi, Brahmos and Shaurya missiles are tested.

“He used to come here often. Sometimes he would go there and pen a poem. I must have travelled at least 200 times with him to Wheeler’s Island,” said Dr S K Salwan, now chairman of Armament Research Board of DRDO and then director of Interim Test Range, Chandipur.

“Whenever he was in Odisha, he made it a point to visit the island. He always kept in touch with us and kept himself updated about missile tests.”

— With inputs from Debabrata Mohanty