A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (Tamil: அவுல் பகீர் ஜைனுலாப்தீன் அப்துல் கலாம்; pronunciation ; 15 October 1931 – 27 July 2015) usually known as A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, was a famous Indian aerospace engineer. He was the 11th President of India, from 2002 to 2007.^[1]

Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
President of India (2002-2007), A.P.J. Abdul Kalam; the picture is from the International Book Fair, Trivandrum, in 2014
President of India
In office 25 July 2002 – 24 July 2007
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee Manmohan Singh
Vice President	Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
Preceded by	Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Succeeded by	Pratibha Devisingh Patil
Personal details
Born	(1931-10-15)15 October 1931 Rameshwaram, British India (now Tamil Nadu), India
Died	27 July 2015(2015-07-27) (aged 83) Shillong, Meghalaya, India
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli Madras Institute of Technology
Profession	Professor, Author, scientist Aerospace engineer

When he was president, he was popularly known as the People's President. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour in 1997. He has also been a professor (of aerospace engineering). Kalam is the first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram (IIST). He is called as the "Missile Man" of India.^[2]

Death

Abdul Kalam died on July 27, 2015 (07:45 Indian Standard Time GMT+5:30) at Bethany Hospital, Shillong after having collapsed due to cardiac arrest during a lecture he was giving at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM).^[3][4]