ENGLISH PROJECT

SUCCESS

STORIES

SOURADEEP DE, XII-S3, Roll-43

 BIOGRAPHY
ELON MUSK:
Elon Musk, South African-born American entrepreneur who cofounded the electronic-payment firm PayPal and formed SpaceX. He
was also one of the first significant investors in, as well as CEO of, the electric car manufacturer Tesla.
Musk displayed an early talent for computers and entrepreneurship. At age 12 he created a video game and sold it to a computer
magazine. In 1988, after obtaining a Canadian passport, Musk left South Africa because he was unwilling to support apartheid
through compulsory military service and because he sought the greater economic opportunities available in the United States.

A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM:

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen (A.P.J.) Abdul Kalam, (October 15, 1931 - July 27, 2015), Indian scientist and politician who played a
leading role in the development of India’s missile and nuclear weapons programs. He was president of India from 2002 to 2007.
Kalam earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology and in 1958 joined the Defense
Research and Development Organisation. In 1969 he moved to the Indian Space Research Organisation, where he was project
director of the SLV-III, the first satellite launch vehicle that was both designed and produced in India. Re-joining DRDO in 1982,
Kalam was the mastermind behind a number of successful missiles, which earned him the name “Missile Man.”
From 1992 to 1997 Kalam was scientific adviser to the defense minister, and he later served as principal scientific adviser (1999–
2001) to the government with the rank of cabinet minister. His prominent role in the country’s 1998 nuclear weapons tests solidified
India as a nuclear power and established Kalam as a national hero, although the tests caused great concern in the international
community.

SWARNAVA DAM, XII-S3, Roll-44

 STRUGGLES
ELON MUSK:

Growing up, Elon didn’t have the best childhood. Born in Pretoria, to a family where all the children along with him were high
achievers. His father was an engineer, and his mother was a model and nutritionist. But after their divorce in 1980, he started to live
with his father in the suburbs of Pretoria. It was then that he quoted his father as “a terrible human-being”, and also said that “he
planned evil”. He was later forced to sever relations with his father since he regretted his decision to stay with his father after his
parents’ divorce.

Musk was also severely bullied throughout his childhood and was once hospitalized when a group of boys threw him down a flight
of stairs, and then beat him until he lost consciousness. After being subjected to such severe bullying, he started to learn Karate,
Judo and Wrestling and soon started returning the favor. Once he got into a fight with the biggest bully at school and knocked him
down with one blow. This incident later forced the bully to never pick on him again. Though painful, Elon learnt a lesson from the
bullying, that bullies always look for targets that won’t fight back.

He moved to Canada in 1989 just before his 18th birthday, but his father didn’t bless the move. Errol Musk strongly suspected his
son’s capability and believed that he would be back in 3 months and didn’t have what it takes and called him and “Idiot”.

SOUJANYA DAS ROY, XII-S3, Roll-42

 STRUGGLES
A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM:

Kalam 1931 in a very poor family. He was brought up with his seven siblings and they had to face a lot of pressure. His father was a
fisherman and used to own boats for letting the Hindu plagiarisms to move between the town of Rameswaram and Dhanush Kodi.
And here started his journey of roughs and toughs. He used to be a newspaper boy, to support his family from a very small age. He
used to wake up at 4 early in the morning and go for his mathematics classes and that time there was no electricity in his town so he
used to study in kerosene lamps.

Taking up engineering in The Madras Institute of Technology was as ambitious as it was expensive, and for the sake of this his sister
Zahara came to his support mortgaging her gold jewellery to arrange fees for his admission. And as he admitted into MIT, he saw the
two decommissioned aircraft for the demonstration of various subparts of flying machines and realized a special attraction towards
them and sit around for long hours.

It is evident from his life that struggles are not there to count but to come over them and achieve what to want and he completely
proved that will power, hard work and determination can take you anywhere.

SOHAM BASAK, XII-S3, Roll-41

 SUCCESS STORY #1
ELON MUSK:
PayPal:
In 1999, Musk co-founded X.com, an online financial services and e-mail payment company, which was later merged with PayPal and Elon
became its CEO later.
SpaceX:
In 2001, Musk was inspired by the Mars society and their plans to colonize Mars, and decided to fund the project. In October that year, he
went to Moscow to buy ICBMs that could send greenhouse payloads into space. It was there that he was viewed as a novice and even spat
on by a Russian Chief Designer. He started the company SpaceX in 2002 and also remains its Chief Engineer till date.
A SpaceX designed Falcon 9 took a great leap in reusability, after its boosters returned to Earth after being ejected in Space.
Tesla Motors:
Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. After the release of the electric sports car, Roadster in 2008, it
became the first all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells. Due to the Model 3 Production Ramp, Tesla faced severe threat of death and
solving a lot of problems in a short time was essential, but eventually it paid off, and Tesla Model 3 received a 5 Star Crash Test Rating and
added a lot of new features.
Thoughts:
Elon Musk exclaims that no one should put that many hours into work as him, people should not work that hard, since it’s very painful. The
most important factor to keep in mind is that, he is the peak of various companies and works 18 hours a day, all week and is available 24/7.
He is often referred to as cross of Thomas Edison and Tony Stark.
He stated that during the Great Recession at the end of 2008, he only had enough money to save one of SpaceX and Tesla from dying. At
this point, he had 2 choices, either to put all of it into one company and let the other one die, or split the money in half which might end up
in both of their deaths. Fortunately, both SpaceX and Tesla came through safely.
SOUJANYA DAS ROY, XII-S3, Roll-43
 SUCCESS STORY #2
A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM:

Career as a Scientist:-
For the Indian army, A.P.J Abdul Kalam designed a mini helicopter. Major breakthrough came when he was transferred to ISRO
catering to the project of SLV-III. Being the representative of TBRL, he acted as the representative of Smiling Buddha which was the
first nuclear test to be conducted. In 1980s, his extensive research work and development brought many accolades and laurel to his
name. From July 1992 onwards he served as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the then Prime Minister. His role in the field of
technological and political field is remarkable during the nuclear tests of Pokhran-II.

Career as the President of India

A.P.J Abdul Kalam won the election of President in 2002 by surpassing mammoth votes. His term as President was from 25 July 2002
to 25 July 2007. He was backed by the parties of National Congress and Samajwadi Party. It was an easy victory for him and he
became the 11th President of India. He received the highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna and the third person to do so. Occupying the
seat of Rashtrapati Bhavan he was indeed the first bachelor and the first scientist as well. However, in 2012 he declined for the role of
President for the second term.

Other Achievements:
*King Charles II Medal – UK, 2007
*International von Kármán Wings Award – California Institute of Technology, USA, 2009
*Hoover Medal – American Society of Mechanical Engineers, USA, 2009
SATYENDRA PANDEY, XII-S3, Roll-45
 PARTICIPANTS

NAME CLASS ROLL

SOHAM BASAK XII 41

SOUJANYA DAS ROY XII 42

SOURADEEP DE XII 43

SWARNAVA DAM XII 44

SATYENDRA PANDEY XII 45