Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, one of India’s most renowned rocket scientists who served as the nation’s 11th President, died of cardiac arrest on Monday at the age of 83.
Kalam was hospitalized after collapsing during a lecture in the northeastern city of Shillong, local media station NDTV reports. He held long-standing leadership positions for India’s defense and space programs, and was elected President with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in July of 2002.
Tributes poured in from Indian luminaries on social media, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and world-renowned cricket player Sachin Tendulkar:
India mourns the loss of a great scientist, a wonderful President & above all an inspiring individual. RIP Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Kalam told TIME in a 1998 interview that he developed an early fascination with flight while growing up on the south Indian isle of Rameshwaram. “Then there were a lot of birds on the island,” he said, “and I used to watch their beautiful flight paths. That got me interested in aeronautics.”
See The History of US—India Relations in 12 Photos
1942: The US held loose relations with "The British Raj" before Indian independence. Yet the Western nation did maintain an Airfield base in Dinjan,India during this time. (Photo by Ivan Dmitri/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Ivan Dmitri—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images1949: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru takes his first trip to the US and meets with President Harry S. Truman in Washington, Oct. 11, 1949. PhotoQuest/Getty Images1959: US President Dwight D. Eisenhower makes the first official state visit to India, joining Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Taj Mahal at Agra, India on Dec. 13, 1959.AP1962: The Kennedy Administration openly supported India during the Sino-Indian War. The US Air Force flew in arms and aid to Indian troops on the Chinese border, Nov. 1, 1962.Larry Burrows—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images1973: In the early 70s, America's relationship with India deteriorated as the Nixon administration became close allies with Pakistan, viewing India as an ally of the Soviet Union. Here, President Nixon meets with Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan in the oval office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 18, 1973. AP1978: When the anti-Soviet Janata Party came to power in the late 70s, Indian relations with the US began to improve. President Jimmy Carter visited Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai in New Delhi in 1978.Charles Harrity—AP1987: In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration began to provide limited aid to India and eventually defense technology such as combat aircraft and naval engines. President Ronald W. Reagan met with India's Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Washington on Oct. 1 1987.Diana Walker—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images1998: India began nuclear testing in Pokhran in 1998, despite strong condemnation from the US. President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions against India.T.C. Malhotra—Getty Images2005: After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the US worked closely with India to strategically monitor the Indian Ocean and Suez Canal to Singapore. Here, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Humayun's Tomb in New DelhiPrakash Singh—AFP/Getty Images2004: The US and Indian navies cooperated on rescue efforts after the Dec. 2004 tsunami that affected the Indian subcontinent. AFP/Getty Images2010: India-US relations became strained during the Obama Administration due to its policies on insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pedro Ugarte—AFP/Getty Images2014: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at Madison Square Garden in New York City on his first visit to the US as Prime Minister, after his US visa had been revoked and reinstated. Lucas Jackson—Reuters
