10 facts you did not know about Mr. Kalam:
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam grew up in poverty and distributed newspapers as a young boy to contribute to his father’s meager income.
- He was a protégé of the great Indian scientist Dr. Vikram Sarabhai who guided him and gave him valuable advice.
- He always faced the press following failed tests at ISRO and accepted responsibility for his mistakes but never claimed the credit for any of the massive successes achieved at the organization.
- He was the first bachelor to become the president and occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan. Kalam was the third President of India to have been honored with a Bharat Ratna before being elected to the office of President.
- He was known to write his own thank you cards with personalized messages in his own handwriting.
- He was a scholar of Thirukkural (a classic of couplets or Kurals) and was known to quote at least one couplet in most of his speeches.
- He had a keen interest in literature and wrote poems in his native Tamil. A practicing Muslim, he was also well versed with Hindu traditions and read the Bhagavad Gita.
- He had more than a million followers on Twitter but followed only 38 people.
Awards and achievements :
- Kalam was the proud recipient of Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna awards from the Government of India. He received the same in the years 1981, 1990 and 1997, respectively.
- In 1997, he was honored by the Government of India with the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.
- Later, the next year, he was awarded the Veer Savarkar Award by the Government of India.
- The Alwars Research Centre, Chennai, bestowed Kalam with Ramanujan Award in the year 2000.
- Kalam was honored with the King Charles II Medal by the Royal Society, U.K in 2007.
- In 2008, he won the Hoover Medal given by ASME Foundation, USA.
- The California Institute of Technology, U.S.A, presented Kalam with the International von Karman Wings Award in the year 2009.
- The IEEE honored Kalam with IEEE Honorary Membership in 2011.
- Kalam was the proud recipient of honorary doctorates from 40 universities.
- In addition to this, Kalam's 79th birthday was recognised as World Students' Day by United Nations.
- He was nominated for the MTV Youth Icon of the Year award in 2003 and in 2006.
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