People

The Former President of India Shri Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born on 15th October, 1931 at Rameshwaram. He did his school education at the Schwartz Higher Secondary School in Ramanathapuram. Then he studied his B.Sc. in physics at St.Joseph’s College, Trichy. He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1997, the highest civilian award given in the country. He has written many books including the “India Vision 2020” which become widely known to achieve India as Developed country. He also widely knew as “Father of Indian Missile Programmes”. He was noted for his integrity and simple lifestyle with compassion and motivation for younger generation all over the country. He died on 27 th July, 2015 at Shillong at the age of 83.

The Former President of India Shri R Venkataraman was born on 4th December, 1910 at Rajamadam village near Thanjavur and Pudukottai. He had hit schooling at Pudukottai. He studied an undergraduate degree at National College, Trichy. He did long services in various capacities at Central Government both in Parliament and in Government as part of various Ministries, Committees, International organizations etc. He also played a major role in Government of Tamil Nadu as Minister and its Upper House. He died at the age of 98 on January 29, 2009 in New Delhi.

Shri N Gopalaswami (born 21 April 1944), was the 15th Chief Election Commissioner of India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2015. He is an Indian Administrative Services officer and worked in various capacities in different States and in Government of India.

Great Tamil Scholar Shri K A P Viswanatham was born on 10th November, 1899 in Trichy. He did not attend any school but become a great scholar in Tamil Literature and activists in politics and freedom movements. He had keen interest in Siddha Medicines learning from traditional practitioners and wrote books on that subject which was widely know. He was social thinker and contributed to Tamil Literature immensely by writing 36 books. He was instrumental for establishment of Tamil University in Thanjavur. He was awarded two Doctorates by universities. Government of Tamil Nadu had name Trichy District Government Medical College in the memory Shri K A P Viswanatham. He died at the age of 95 on 19th December, 1994.

Shri Rappal Sangameswaran Krishnan was born on 22nd September, 1911 at Rappal village in Thrissur District in Kerala. He studied B.A Honours in St.Joseph’s college, Trichy. Then he did Doctorate research at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) under the supervision of the physics Nobel laureate CV Raman. His research at Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University led to scientific discovery of many experimental observations. He was Head of the Physics Department in IISC, Bangalore and vice chancellor of Kerala University. He was involved with various scientific organizations both in India and abroad. He was Fellow at Institute of Physics, London and was an Emeritus Scientist of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). He died on 2nd October, 1999 at the age of 88 in Bangalore.

Shri Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran was born on 8th October, 1922 in town of Ernakulam in Kerala. He studied at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy for his B.Sc. in Physics (Honours). Then he went to study at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore for his master’s and doctoral thesis under the supervision of Nobel laureate CV Raman. He achieved as a renowned scientist known all over the world with many scientific discoveries. The Government India national institute, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) gives awards in the memory of “Dr G N Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological Sciences & Technology” every year in for his great works in Biological Sciences & Technology. He died at the age of 78, on 7th April, 2001 at Chennai.

Shri S P Adithanar was popularly called as “Adithanar”. He was an Indian lawyer, politician, minister and founder of the Tamil Daily newspaper Dina Thanthi. He was born on 27 September 1905 and died on 24 May 1981. He completed his schooling at Srivaikuntam and joined St. Joseph’s College, Trichy. After obtaining an M.A., degree, he went to Middle Temple, London to study law. He became a barrister in 1933 and practiced in Singapore during 1933–42 and later in his home town Srivaikuntam. After he returned to India in 1942 he established a Tamil weekly magazine, Tamizhan, and a daily newspaper, Thanthi, in November 1942.

Shri S Rangarajan alies Sujatha was born on 3rd May, 1935 in Chennai but grownup in Trichy and completed his school education in Srirangam and B.Sc. Physics at St. Joseph’s College, Trichy. He then studied Electronic Engineering at Madras Institute of Technology. He worked with Government of India in the departments of Civil Aviation, Bharath Electronics Limited, etc. He is said to be the instrumental for development of Electronic Voting Machines in India. He is writer by early age perhaps developed in his school days in Srirangam. He wrote more than hundreds novels and two fifty short stories in Tamil giving a great contribution to the Tamil literatureHe received many awards from Government of India and Tamil Nadu. He died on 27th February, 2008 at the age of 72.

Shri T S Rangarajan alias Vaali was born on 29th October, 1931 in Thirupparaitturai village near Srirangam in Trichy. He studied at the Government Arts College in Chennai. Later he did a part-time job at All India Radio of Trichy. He become lyricist in Tamil Film industry for several decades. It is said that the acclaimed writer, the lyricist and poet Vaali who become highly talented on a par with writer, lyricist and poet Shri Kannadasan. He wrote more than 15,000 songs as lyricist in Tamil film industry. He was awarded with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award by Government of India. He also wrote several books in Tamil giving valuable contribution to the literature. He died at the age of 81 on 18th July, 2013 at Chennai.