Wings of Fire: An Autobiography

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, the son of a little-educated boat-owner in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, had an unparalleled career as a defence scientist, culminating in the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna. As chief of the countrys defence research and development programme, Kalam demonstrated the great potential for dynamism and innovation that existed in seemingly moribund research establishments. This is the story of Kalams rise from obscurity and his personal and professional struggles, as well as the story of Agni, Prithvi, Akash, Trishul and Nagmissiles that have become household names in India and that have raised the nation to the level of a missile power of international reckoning. This is also the saga of independent Indias struggle for technological self-sufficiency and defensive autonomya story as much about politics, domestic and international, as it is about science.