Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1931-2015), was an Indian aerospace scientist and politician who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. Born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, he spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India’s civilian space program and military missile development efforts. He thus came to be known as the Missile Man of India for his work on the development of ballistic missile and launch vehicle technology. He also played a pivotal organizational, technical, and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear tests in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974. Kalam was elected as the 11th President of India in 2002 with the support of both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the then-opposition Indian National Congress. Widely referred to as the “People’s President”, he returned to his civilian life of education, writing and public service after a single term. He was a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour.
-Wikipedia