Everyone in India is quite familiar about the Missile Man of the country, who is none other than former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. But, have you ever come across the Missile Woman of India? Tessy Thomas is the name. She is an epic inspiration to many individuals in India.
Tessy Thomas is an iconic Indian scientist and Project Director for Agni-IV missile in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The way she fought against all the odds to relish her dream sums up the essential Tessy Thomas for you!
The Plot:
Hailed as India’s Agni Putri, Dr Tessy Thomas was born in 1963 in Alappuzha, a district in Kerala. Talking about her parents, her father was a small businessman whereas her mother was a homemaker. Tessy faced tough times in her childhood age. When she was 13, her father suffered from stroke whereas her mother who was a teacher turned to a homemaker to look after the family in dull condition.
Despite all such struggles at such an early age, she still was nursing a dream of becoming an expert in the field of rockets and missiles. She grew up near Thumba Rocket Launching Station and the electrifying atmosphere filled with rockets and missiles drew attention to her and from there she was provoked by aircraft flying.
She did her B.Tech in Electrical from Calicut University and then took another step in intensity as she pursued Masters in Guided Missiles from Poona University. She began to make her profile so colourful when she did MBA in Operations Management and also a PhD in Missile Guidance.
In 1988, the Missile Woman of India joined DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) where she had the privilege to work under Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Dr Tessy Thomas has indeed come a long way to learn things and much to her curiosity, she achieved many many great things in life as she is now a leading expert in ballistic missiles.
She was the Project Director for DRDO’s Agni IV and V missiles and also the first woman to lead missile teams in India. Anand Mahindra, the chairman of Mahindra group said that DRDO’s Tessy Thomas, the first woman to head an Indian missile project, deserves to be more famous than any Bollywood star.
The GES-2017 speakers’ list says, as a Project and Technology Leader, Tessy played a phenomenal role in Mission Design, Infrastructure Development, Process and Product development. “She is a fellow of various professional Bodies -INAE, IEI, TAS and Senior Member of IEEE, ASI, and AeSI. She received Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) from five different Universities.”
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam himself appointed her as the director of Agni Missile program. The program was earlier directed by him and he found that only she could do the job best.
