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A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015)

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, a lishment (ADE) at . Here he After the successful launches of distinguished aerospace technologist who designed and operated the country’s first sounding rockets at TERLS, Sarabhai led the development of the country’s ground effect machine or hovercraft, began conceptualizing an Indian first as well as which attracted a great deal of technical Launch Vehicle (SLV). As a space pro- the first indigenous operational missiles, and political attention as it could be a gramme began getting formulated and then went on to become first the Scien- useful transport vehicle in an otherwise the Space Science and Technology tific Adviser to the Defence Minister and difficult terrain like the Rann of Kutch or Centre (later named VSSC after Vikram later the Principal Scientific Adviser to any river delta. Although a flying proto- Sarabhai) came up at Veli Hill, I got to the Government of , and finally en- type won excited praise from Defence work with Kalam more closely. Among tered national politics as the 11th Presi- Minister V. K. Krishna Menon, the pro- these projects were one on rarefied gas dent of the Republic, passed away on 27 ject was inexplicably shelved – it was dynamics (with S. M. Deshpande), de- July 2015 as he had just begun to address Kalam’s first experience with the harsh veloping Monte Carlo codes for solving students at the Indian Institute of Man- realities of public decision-making. For- the Boltzmann equation on problems agement at Shillong. His death has taken tunately M. G. K. Menon (Director of such as determination of satellite drag, away one of the most remarkable and TIFR at the time), visiting ADE, was and another on high-velocity flows (with charismatic figures, not only in Indian quick to recognize Kalam’s unusual abi- N. M. Reddy) on heat transfer on nose science and technology but also in Gov- lities, drive and passion; this led to Vik- cones and in nozzles. This and a variety ernment, politics and public life. ram Sarabhai (who was then heading the of technical reviews took some of us to Kalam was born in Rameswaram Indian National Committee for Space Trivandrum every now and then. Mean- (Tamil Nadu) on 15 October 1931 to Research) hiring Kalam in 1964 as a while in 1972, following the untimely Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma, parents of Rocket Engineer at the Thumba Equato- passing away of the modest means whose income Kalam rial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) previous year when he was only 52, supported by selling newspapers when he near Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum). had taken over as Chair- was a young boy. After schooling in the Here Kalam led a series of programmes man of a reorganized ISRO and heading neighbourhood, he went to Tiruchirap- including fibre-reinforced plastic tech- the newly established Space Commission palli in 1950, and obtained a B Sc in nology development, and was Chief and . from St Joseph’s College in Designer for a Rocket-Assisted Take-Off The development of an Indian SLV 1954. He found physics was not his cup system for aircraft. At that time the pro- that could put a small 40 kg class Indian of tea, and furthermore jobs for physi- gramme conceived by Sarabhai was still satellite into low-earth orbit quickly be- cists were scarce. So during the next in its initial stages; its assets, including came the most ambitious project on the three years he studied aeronautical engi- Kalam and some of his sounding rockets ISRO agenda. Kalam was appointed Pro- neering at the Madras Institute of Tech- and equipment, were housed in an ject Manager of the SLV-3 mission (as nology, where he obtained a Diploma ancient church building that had been the vehicle got to be designated). This (equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree, generously handed over by the Bishop of was a somewhat surprising appointment, DMIT), and went to HAL Bangalore for Trivandrum for use in Sarabhai’s pro- and there were members of the scientific shop-floor training. He wanted to be a jects. During some of the visits I made community who were skeptical about the pilot, but just missed being selected by there at that time, both guests and hosts, project’s chances of success, both within IAF. However he got a position at the including Kalam and his colleagues, and outside ISRO, and the adequacy of Directorate of Technical Development stayed at what was called the Rocket Kalam for the task. However Dhawan and Production (DTD&P (Air)) at Delhi Club in the City and ate at the Railway had seen enough of Kalam in operation in 1955, and three years later was posted Station: Kalam was a vegetarian, spoke to conclude that he was one person who to the Aeronautical Development Estab- only Tamil and English and was already had delivered on what he had promised, a popular figure among the engineers because of his remarkable ability to work working there, who affectionately called in teams and lead them. When the first him ‘Kalam Iyer’. launch failed in 1979 the fears of the In 1963 Kalam was sent to the US for pessimists seemed confirmed. However a six-month training programme on the second one launched a year later suc- sounding rocket launching techniques. ceeded, and placed a 35 kg satel- Years later the amusing suggestion was lite in a 400 km orbit. The story of what made that Kalam had learnt his space happened immediately after these two technology during that visit, but what at- events is well known: after the failure, tracted Kalam most was a painting at the Kalam wanted to resign, but Dhawan, Wallops Island facility, depicting Tipu who persuaded him to stay, faced the Sultan’s soldiers using rockets against press answering the inevitable awkward the British during the 18th century An- questions. After a long internal meeting glo-Mysore wars (– incidentally a subject analysing the causes of the failure,

in which both of us have had a long- Kalam formally took responsibility for it, Kalam with a Mysore turban. standing shared interest). an admission that was followed by com-

814 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 109, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2015 PERSONAL NEWS plete silence in the meeting, till Dhawan concluded it saying ‘I am going to put Kalam in orbit!’. After the success of the second launch Dhawan chose to remain in the background and asked Kalam to go talk to the press. In many ways the SLV-3 was a turning point in the history of the Indian space programme. Success changed percep- tions, within ISRO and outside, about what Indian S&T could do. The engi- neers who had taken part in the project and Satish Dhawan, (Director of VSSC), and Kalam himself saw the success as confirmation of the validity of the elaborate technology man- agement system that had been set up to monitor the project. The system worked through a variety of technical reviews by teams that included experts from outside, Kalam and his ‘guru’ Satish Dhawan. methods for putting together teams of scientists from different divisions within VSSC and other ISRO centres, and a ser at the time) made ambitious plans for anybody who had been asked for help to variety of coordination mechanisms for a ‘quiver’ of five missiles. This must say No. Sivaraj Ramaseshan used to say ensuring smooth progress in the project. have been an exciting prospect for that Kalam could milk a tiger [or Failure of the first launch began to be Kalam, for he now had a whole pro- tigress?]! I recall vividly an instance seen as the first step to success. The out- gramme to implement as Chief Executive where a facility abroad that had promised look of the organization as a whole about Officer of an Integrated Guided Missile to make some essential high-speed tests their own capabilities became much Development project, which included for him withdrew the offer at the last more confident, and made it possible for , , , and . minute, upsetting project schedules. them to dream of bigger enterprises. In As with the SLV-3 the first flights of Kalam by then had a healthy respect for short, what later became famous as Prithvi and Agni were both failures, and what software (in the form of computa- ‘ISRO culture’ was born. revived once again the generally pessi- tional , CFD) could do for As SLV development was completed, mistic view that still prevailed in spite of hardware, and asked me at that time Kalam went on to become Director of the SLV-3. But Prithvi was quickly fixed (around 1988/89?) whether we would ISRO Launch Vehicles/Systems and and had a successful launch only a few take on that task at NAL (which I was moved to Headquarters in Bangalore. weeks later. Agni took a little longer but then heading), with the help of scientists With Kalam in Bangalore interaction was it also succeeded. Kalam had confirmed from IISc and DRDL. The attraction of closer and more frequent, and with IISc the reputation that he already had ac- NAL was that my NAL colleague U. N. scientists it was facilitated by a Space quired regarding his ability to deliver on Sinha had already designed and built Technology Cell on the campus spon- what had been promised. some parallel computers which at that sored by ISRO. Using this association The Kalam style of technology man- time were the most powerful available with IISc, Kalam wanted to write a full agement and leadership had now become in the country. With S. M. Deshpande account of the SLV-3 project, and work very clear. At DRDL he refused to from IISc, a few scientists from NAL towards a Ph D. On the latter he asked occupy a spacious Director’s bungalow, and a few more from DRDL worked me whether I would agree to be his preferring a room in the Guest House; round the clock, and came up with an guide, but I told him in all sincerity that and would talk shop with anybody he answer in about three months. That a man like him did not need a Ph D. Any met on after-dinner walks, sometimes answer was enough for Kalam to make way Kalam was restless with paper work, past midnight. He made it clear that the his decision, and he immediately cleared and was itching for projects that led to project was more important than any the launch. It turned out to be successful new hardware. This came when DRDO member of the team – including himself. and he was delighted (and incidentally sought Kalam from ISRO to head the De- He had set up a nationwide network of confirmed the CFD estimate). When he fence Research and Development Labo- scientists and engineers who could help came shortly thereafter to talk about the ratories (DRDL) at Hyderabad, to take tackle the challenges faced by any pro- project at NAL, the auditorium was forward a nascent missile development ject. If a bright young man somewhere packed and overflowing, not only with programme that had till then been mak- could help solve his problem, Kalam NAL scientists but many other staff as ing rather slow progress. Dhawan reluc- himself would go there to meet him. well. tantly agreed to let him go, and with Kalam’s personal charm and humility, With Prithvi entering production the some proactive encouragement from De- his obvious sincerity and commitment to missile programme was gradually matur- fence Minister R. Venkataraman, Kalam the project and its goals, and his track re- ing, and Kalam became ‘the Missile and V. S. Arunachalm (Scientific Advi- cord of success made it very difficult for Man’ to the media. In 1992 Kalam was

CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 109, NO. 4, 25 AUGUST 2015 815 PERSONAL NEWS appointed Scientific Adviser to the by Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal He did not lack critics. At almost Defence Minister and Director General Nehru and others – all Indian minds. every stage of his life there were people of DRDO. The aeronautical community Apart from detailed discussions of who doubted his abilities. He was very was then very busy with the LCA pro- technical and economic issues, Kalam loyal to the institutions he worked for – gramme, and there were long discussions was keenly sensitive to the fact that most so much so that outsiders sometimes felt with Kalam about some of the chal- Indians are pessimistic (if not cynical) he did not give them enough credit. I lenges. Three of the major ones were about the possible benefits of big pro- hope my colleagues in science will pardon being tackled by National Teams, com- grammes. He was however convinced me if I say that the bulk of the scientific posed of scientists and engineers from (from his own experience in ISRO and community was often confused by him. the Defence labs, NAL and many aca- DRDO) that, given the right leadership, A CV of his made in the early 80s lists demic institutions. Kalam was at first the country was fully capable of taking all the technology projects that he had rather skeptical about how the National on ambitious goals – such as being a de- handled successfully but there was no list Teams would work out, but as the LCA veloped country by 2020. He realized of publications. To a community that is carbon fibre wings were manufactured however that such a national mission used, understandably, to assessing col- and tested, and the flight control system needs a change in the general mindset, leagues in the profession by the papers for the unstable LCA had begun to work and that can only happen with a new they write, the question was how to very well on flight simulators, Kalam generation. It was therefore extremely evaluate a person often called scientist seemed converted to the idea. important that young people today must but without a publication record. This To academic groups that had contrib- be given the confidence to think that they confusion manifested itself when his uted significantly to his projects, Kalam can build a better future for themselves name came up for election to the acad- gave considerable support. For example and their nation. It was perhaps this emies of science. On one occasion I re- IISc could, with such support, set up a thought-process that made Kalam so member that although the engineers had joint Advanced Technology Programme keen to talk with the young all across the recommended his election, the Council and a Centre of Excellence in CFD, and nation. He had always been an informal had a long and inconclusive discussion get substantial grants for the High Speed leader, and with young people he became about it. Satish Dhawan, who had sat si- Aerodynamics Laboratory. very open and quickly mastered the art of lently through all of that discussion, was After I retired from NAL in 1993, my giving answers that were at one and the finally asked by the Chairman why he direct involvement in the LCA dimin- same time simple, amusing, convincing had not said a word and what his view ished, but our paths crossed again on and practical, urging them all the time to was. Dhawan just said ‘The old man [C. Kalam’s ‘India 2020’ project. This was dream and to chase their dreams. V. Raman] would have taken him’. That done through the Technology Informa- If he could ‘ignite’ young people’s ended the discussion and Kalam was tion Forecasting and Assessment Council minds there would be an army of project elected. (TIFAC), of which Kalam was Chair- assistants ‘more powerful than thermo- Kalam himself made a clear distinction man. As a member of the Project Group, nuclear energy’, he said. And young between science and technology, and I could see at close quarters that Kalam’s people loved him for those informal in- between research and development. In- plans and thinking were not limited to teractions and for the opportunity they deed, he ‘cautioned [his] team against rockets, aircraft and strategic industries, had to ask the President of the Republic becoming scientists’ – to discourage but covered the whole spectrum, ranging any question they could frame. Kalam in open-ended thinking and emphasize the from food and agriculture, health, educa- fact became a phenomenally successful discipline that is essential for a project to tion and infrastructure to materials, communicator, and spoke with equal deliver on time and within budget. This chemicals and manufacturing. But his ease to young and old, to rich and poor, is perhaps understandable in a develop- approach was the same: what projects – to the weak and the powerful, to the illit- ing country where a space programme doable, affordable – will achieve his goal erate and the scholarly, and to a peasant had to justify itself (almost endlessly), of development by 2020? His philosophy or a president. This Kalam charm was and was forced to be risk-averse if it had seems to have been that absence of pro- enhanced by an austere life-style, an to be successful and acceptable. In retro- jects was a sign of woolly thinking at the enormous capacity for hard work and a spect, I am impressed by the unanimity top, and so project-speak became his strong commitment to use of technology of judgement of most leading scientists third language. Thus specific projects for the benefit of man (e.g. using carbon in India of the time – M. G. K. Menon, were formulated in 17 areas, and 25 re- fibre for polio calipers and designing and Vikram Sarabhai, and ports were prepared by the Group. making inexpensive stents – he was a Satish Dhawan – who often saw the A summary of all this work appeared in frugal innovator long before those words spark in Kalam right from the time he the very readable book India 2020: A became popular). And there was his in- had only just graduated with a DMIT Vision for the New Millennium, written terest in the arts, in particular a fascina- from Madras, whereas some of his col- by Kalam along with Y. S. Rajan. It tion with the veena and Karnatak music, leagues could not – even after years of starts with a dedication to a 10-year old that gave his personality an almost uni- working together. His later record fully girl who, in answer to Kalam’s question versal appeal across the nation. And he justified the confidence that these per- ‘What is your ambition?’, replied ‘I want had the classical Indic ability to con- ceptive leaders had reposed in him from to live in a developed India’. So the dense a whole way of thinking or doing the very beginning, in part because of his theme was development – all round and into some pithy sutra, sukti or maxim, natural ability to work with and inspire inclusive. The logic of Kalam’s thinking even as he quoted from the Thirukkural, small or large teams. When Kalam was starts with Amartya Sen and is inspired the Gita, the Koran and the Bible. picked as the Project Director for the

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SLV-3 by Dhawan some of his scientist their usefulness to the nation in the friends wrote or spoke to him expressing eyes of the public, media and the politi- their reservations. Remarkably however, cians. neither Dhawan nor Brahm Prakash had Kalam subsequently moved over to any doubts that they had made the best head the Integrated Guided Missile De- choice for the job. I should add to that velopment Programme (IGMDP). This list , who saw that programme was conceived to address a another brahmachari like himself, who large spectrum of the missile require- helped weaponize a nuclear device and ments of the country and was way ahead could easily have passed for just a tech- A. P. J. Abdul Kalam was born in 1931 of the technological capabilities available nology freak, would in fact make a in the fishing island of Rameshwaram, in India and perhaps in the world. Until wonderful President for the Republic – Tamil Nadu, India. His parents were Kalam joined Defence Research Devel- one who knew that strength respects from a middle-class family with high opment Organization (DRDO), defence strength but thought of missiles as ethical standards. He went to vernacular research was shrouded in secrecy and ‘weapons of peace’. schools nearby. He did his collegiate was mostly inward looking. He first es- The vast majority of the people of education in one of the good colleges tablished several design review teams India, from every walk of life, have how- in Tamil Nadu, St Joseph’s College in with experts from the academia and the ever been mesmerized by the tangible Tiruchirappalli. industry and ensured that everyone was achievements, charisma, simplicity, hu- While at school he was highly influ- exposed to and contributed to the goals manity and dedication that characterized enced by his teachers. That inculcated a of DRDO. He also established joint re- Kalam, and they went on to shower their habit of trying to ask questions to under- search centres with generous core and affection, love and respect on him, irre- stand nature, to enjoy it and to be one project-specific funding in all major edu- spective of caste, religion, gender or with it. His quest to understand the flight cational institutions and the industry political persuasion. His autobiography of the birds gave him the Wings of Fire, network. Thus he brought in the ISRO Wings of Fire (1999) became an inspir- the urge to become a pilot and to fly. culture to DRDO. He was present in all ing national classic. He was honoured This attracted him to the study of aero- the design review meetings, which often widely and received the Bharat Ratna in nautical engineering at the Madras Insti- stretched well beyond dinner time. The 1997 when he was still Scientific tute of Technology. fact that Kalam was a great listener and a Adviser to the Defence Minister. He won He learnt compassion from his mother learner became very evident in these re- the von Karman Wings Award of the and strict discipline from his brother, view meetings. He effectively used the Aerospace History Society in 2009 at who was nearly sixteen years elder to design review meetings to have a whole the California Institute of Technology. him. His father set an example for him to army of academics and researchers from The citation called him ‘an international follow and practice religious tolerance other organizations and the industry to leader and humanitarian who is honoured and societal integration. The recipe for think and contribute to the missile deve- and admired by the next generation’. success was well engrained in him at the lopment programme of DRDO. He was (Characteristically, the cash award he re- very initial stage of his life through his also singularly responsible for an enor- ceived at the time was donated by Kalam teachers and family. mous increase in open research leading to Caltech, for a Kalam Prize to be awar- As a traditionally trained aeronautical to several doctoral degrees in IISc and ded every year to the best student in the engineer, his initial assignments were in IITs that directly addressed the unsolved Master’s course.) He also won the Von aeronautical establishments, starting his problems in aerospace and related areas. Braun Award for excellence in manage- career as a trainee and moving on to the This was almost the first experiment in ment and leadership of space projects design of a hovercraft, which was possi- India of directed and locally relevant re- from the (US) National Space Society. bly one of the first flying machines search. He was personally in touch with In summary, he was an outstanding designed and developed in India. The every scientist and never hesitated to ap- technological manager and leader, but he doyens of Indian science and technology proach anyone who could make a contri- was also much more than that: a sensitive at that time never failed to notice the bution to his vision and mission. He was human being with a big and soft heart, a work of a committed young man who also extremely generous in acknowledg- karma yogi with a desi genius for under- gave all his time to his work than to any ing everyone’s contribution in the public. standing his countrymen, a rock star, a other pleasures of life, including setting He did this by name with poise in the great Indian citizen and a true patriot – up of a nest of his own. They were very books that he wrote later and in his well- all in one. impressed by his hard work, passion and publicized talks. He did this attribution knowledge and it enabled him to get a not only to his mentors like Vikram passport to work on the first Satellite Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan, Brahm Launch Vehicle programme of the coun- Prakash, Raja Ramanna and others, but try. The success of SLV-3, preceded by also his peers and juniors. He was a great Engineering Mechanics Unit, its own dose of failure, was perhaps the integrator and motivator of people. This Centre for Advanced first nationally successful project wherein art of management of large projects Scientific Research, India’s capabilities in using science and through inclusive participation and gen- Jakkur PO, technology base came to the fore. This erous appreciation was the key ingredient Bengaluru 560 064, India was perhaps the first time the scientists in the success of all his work – a trait e-mail: [email protected] gained a certain level of credibility for that he learnt from his mentors Vikram

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