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A. P. J. Abdul Kalam awarded the Bharat Ratna

· Rameswaram

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam awarded the Bharat Ratna
Government of India, GODL-India · Wikimedia Commons

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the Rameswaram-born scientist who headed India's missile programme, received the Bharat Ratna.

The 1997 Bharat Ratna was given to A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, who was born in Rameswaram in 1931 and studied at St. Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli, and at the Madras Institute of Technology. His career took him to the Indian Space Research Organisation and to the Defence Research and Development Organisation, which he led from 1992 to 1999. The Padma Bhushan (1981) and the Padma Vibhushan (1990) had already been awarded to him. From 2002 to 2007 he went on to be President of India.

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