Her agnomen is “Agni putri” and
“Missile Woman”. She is the first woman to head a missile project in India and
one of the few women working on Strategic nuclear ballistic missiles in the
male-domineering world of clandestine missile development programme.
Agni-V has been triumphantly tested
on April 19 2012. One of the key players in making this ICBM a reality is
Scientist “Tessy Thomas” from DRDO. She has taken the mantle to guide the team
of scientists to fire the robust and truculent weapon in the country’s arsenal.
She, Roman Catholic, was born in
Alappuzha, Kerala to small-business man family and was named after “Mother
Teresa”. From her school days, she was adept at solving problems in mathematics
and was engrossed with Science; pre-eminently she was confounded at the rocket
launches from Thumba on the purlieus of Thiruvananthapuram.
At the age of 20
she left to Pune for perusing M.Tech in Guided Missiles from “Defence Institute
of Advanced Technology” (then Institute of Armament Technology). There she met
Saroj Kumar, her husband, commodore in the Indian Navy. Her son, Tejas, named
after LCV (Light Combat Vehicle), is studying in Vellore Engineering College.
Ms. Tessy Thomas has embarked on her
journey with DRDO, when she was chosen as one of the 10 young talents from the
country in 1985 for DRDO programme.
Her dedication, endeavour and
patience brought her many accolades. She has worked under the genius, Missile
man, former President Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam as her director, when she was faculty
at DRDO, Pune for Guided Missiles. She was designated as associate project
director for Agni-III, Project Director for Agni-IV and reached to the zenith
for heading the Agni-V mission.
She has now set her eyes on multiple
independent re-entry vehicles.
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