Category Famous Personalities

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam derived immense satisfaction from saving lives through the development of the famed ‘Kalam-Raju stent’ for coronary heart disease. Kalam collaborated with the renowned cardiologist Dr. B. Soma Raju of Care Foundation and his colleagues to design the ‘K-R stent’ in the 1990s. These stents were developed to bring down the cost and make them affordable to the common man. They were made in India and introduced in the market in 1994. Cardiologists use these coronary stents to dilate constricted arteries while treating heart attacks.

Dr. B. Soma Raju was associated with Kalam since 1985. He used to say that Dr. Kalam was the “guiding soul” for the project. For this effort, the Care Foundation received the Defence Technology Spin-off Award in 1998, and, ‘Kalam – Raju stent’ went on to gain widespread acclaim.

Dr. Kalam along with Dr. B. Soma Raju also introduced the concept of a tablet PC for health care workers at primary health centres in rural areas.

While the Kalam-Raju stent took the centre stage for its affordability, the Kalam-Raju tablet was designed and aimed at arming healthcare personnel at the primary level like doctors, Anganwadi workers, ayahs and first responders to deal with an emergency. The tablet was capable of performing a number of medical processes at the rural level.

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Dr. Kalam served as the first Principal Scientific Advisor or PSA from November 1999 to November 2001. The post of PSA is equal to that of a Secretary in any ministry. Dr. Kalam developed numerous policies, strategies and missions for many development applications while serving as PSA.

The position of PSA was created with a Cabinet rank in 1999 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. However, in 2018, the Union Ministry decided that the scientific advisor would have a position equal to a Secretary, with tenure of three years. It is the job of the PSA to advise the prime minister and the cabinet on matters related to science and technology, and how they can affect economic and social structures.

The office of the PSA also helps various ministries, institutions and the industry to cooperate and work together in matters related to science and technology, through the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).

Dr. Kalam had served as the Scientific Adviser to the defence minister from 1992-99 before being appointed as the PSA in 1999.

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India’s attempt to conduct a second nuclear test was revived in 1998, during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s second term as prime minister. On April 8, approval for the tests was given by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) chief R Chidambaram and DRDO chief Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. The entire operation was controlled by Vajpayee and his principal secretary Brajesh Mishra from the prime minister’s office. The operation was conducted in such high secrecy that nobody except the then home minister LK Advani knew about it. Even important persons such as the then defence minister, George Fernandes, were told about the tests on May 9 and the three service chiefs and the foreign secretary were informed over the next three days. On May 11, this information was shared by the Cabinet Committee on Security.

A team which included Dr. K Santhanam, Dr. Kalam, Chidambaram and few other nuclear scientists and engineers started arriving in Pokhran in May 1998. The entire operation was conducted in utmost secrecy. The tunnels were only dug at night, not to be seen by the U.S spy satellites. The scientists used army uniforms and camouflages to disguise themselves and dig the bomb shafts. To avoid suspicion, nuclear devices were also flown from different parts of the country.

On May 11, 1998, at around 3:45 PM, India tested three devices – a thermonuclear device (Shakti I), a fission device (Shakti II), and a sub-kiloton device (Shakti III).On May 13, India detonated two more sub-kiloton devices-Shakti IV and V.

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Dr. Sarabhai and his fellow scientists including Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited Thumba to talk with the then-Bishop of Trivandrum, who lived next to the church. They requested permission to use the church and the nearby land for scientific purposes.

With the support of the parishioners to provide the land for scientific use, the bishop agreed to their proposal. His home was quickly converted into an office; the church into a workshop and the cattle sheds into storage houses and laboratories. Even with little funding and few facilities, the enthusiastic scientists were all set to build their first rocket.

In the early stages, Thumba had no proper facilities such as canteen or vehicular transport. Jeeps were reserved for technical assistance and so moving around was either by foot or cycle.

The story of how India staged its first launch of a Nike-apache rocket supplied by NASA, is forever etched in the mind of Indians with the image of Vikram Sarabhai, APJ Kalam and fellow scientists passionately carrying the payload and rocket parts in carts and bicycles to the launch pad.

At the end of six months of hard work, on 21 November 1963, India was ready for its very first rocket launch. Along with the governor of Kerala, the district collector and the bishop, many other eminent figures in science and technology had gathered for the occasion, including Dr Homi Bhabha (the father of Indian nuclear programme) and Dr P R Pisharoty the founder-director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

When everything was set to go, the air was thick with tension and excitement for the launch. Just as the rocket was rolled on to the launch pad, things started going south. The hydraulic crane developed a leak and it was tackled by manually shifting it into position. The remote system of the launcher also malfunctioned. All of these were fixed and things finally seemed in order. As the alarm sounded to clear the area around the launch pad, the scientists held their breath to witness the moment they had been waiting for.

At 6.25 pm, India made history as the rocket streaked away into the dimming sky. High up in the sky, a sodium vapour cloud emerged, which looked orange in the setting Sun.

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Dr. Kalam was part of India’s first rocket launch, which happened in 1963, soon after his return from the U.S. It was a great learning experience for Dr. Kalam to work with Dr. Sarabhai, the father of the Indian Space Programme. His vision helped India achieve the milestone of successfully launching its first rocket.

Until 1963, the village of Thumba would not have attracted a second look. It was a typical Kerala fishing hamlet and was quite an unlikely setting for a rocket launch. In the village, a small church dedicated to St Mary Magdalene caught the attention of Dr. Sarabhai, because it was located on Earth’s magnetic equator.

The magnetic equator is an imaginary line around the planet that connects all the points where a magnetic needle, when freely suspended, is horizontal. The magnetic equator is scientifically a very important location, where the Equatorial Electrojet exists, which is a stream of electrons moving across the sky at about 110-120 km above the Earth’s Surface.

The sounding rockets sent out by any space programme, test and study these electrons for research in the field of physics. These rockets are the first steps to establish a full fledged space programme. The low-altitude of Thumba’s location was ideal for upper atmosphere and ionosphere studies.

Thus, Thumba became an ideal site for a rocket launching centre.

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Although we are familiar with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s various accomplishments, there are some that are less talked about. One among them is a hovercraft called Nandi. Nandi was developed in India and is the first of its kind. It was named after Lord Shiva’s bull Nandi. This project was almost completely led by Dr. Kalam at the Aeronautical Development Establishment in Bangalore, a laboratory of DRDO.

When this project was assigned to him, Dr. Kalam had little knowledge of how to design such a craft. He wasn’t sure of the kind of propeller that would be necessary for the aircraft. In order to study that, Kalam spent the next 10 Sundays visiting a professor in IISC, Bangalore learning to perfect the design. By the end of his learning, Project Nandi was not only successful but was also ahead of schedule with a working prototype.

But by this time, VK Krishna Menon was no longer the Minister of Defence and this project was put on hold by the government. But it was not a waste of effort as the hovercraft program captured the interest of Prof. MGK Menon, the Director of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who called Dr. Kalam for an interview. Prof. Menon was very impressed with the work of Dr. Kalam and in a week’s time, Kalam was offered the post of rocket engineer at the Indian Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR).

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