Dr Tessy Thomas (Missile Woman Of India) Biography, Story

Bio / WIKI

In Thathampally, Kerala, in April 1963, Tessy Thomas was born. Dr. Tessy Thomas, who grew up in a humble home, was fascinated by science and technology from an early age. Raised close to the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Stations, I was drawn to the missiles and rockets.

Dr. Tessy Thomas, India's Missile Woman, is a fascinating person. The self-made missile engineer overcame a glass ceiling that hampered other women in her field by rising from modest beginnings in Kerala.
She had barely completed her undergraduate degree in electronics and a few years of internship before being personally chosen at the age of 25 to head DRDO, India's NASA, for its biggest missile program, Agni V.


The Early Years
Tessy Thomas was born in 1963 to Syrian parents in the Keralan municipality of Alappuzha. She was given the name Mother Teresa by her parents.
When she was just 13 years old, her father had a stroke that left him paralyzed.

Her mother was a teacher in the field of education as well as the head of the household at home.
 

Her Academic Background

After that, Thomas continued her education at the University of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram, where she graduated with a bachelor's and a master's degree in communication and electronics.
But rather than pursuing a job, Thomas was more interested in creating new technology. She even turned down a job offer from her brother-in-law, a software company's CFO. She decided to pursue a PhD instead.
Thomas was chosen as an intern after submitting an application to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 1984. She worked on the design of launch vehicles and satellites at ISRO.

Her Professional Life
Her professional journey has spanned more than thirty years, beginning as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and continuing as the Director of the Physical Research Laboratory until her appointment as an Advisor to the Defence Minister in 2012, where she oversaw missile programs.In 1986, Thomas left ISRO after working there for two years and joined India's NASA-like Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO).
She provided advice on the nuclear-weapon-carrying Agni missile program there. She contributed to the design of several missiles and launchers for the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force while she was employed at DRDO.Thomas did more than merely develop rockets, of course. She studied GPS technologies as well.

The technology for radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, which were utilized as identifying tags for millions of products worldwide, was developed by her, one of the earliest engineers in India.Additionally, she added communications technology to her portfolio, such as infrared communication systems used by satellites and airplanes, because her area of competence was electronics.
Thomas was not just a technological innovator but also a skilled manager. She oversaw and led a team of 150 engineers in her initial position at ISRO, and thousands of teams during her time at DRDO.

Accomplishments, Honors, and Appreciations

• She was named project director for the Agni-IV missile in 2015 by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India's defense research agency.
• Her appointment, which makes her the first female scientist to lead a missile project in India, coincides with the nation's sense of being threatened by China's expanding power.
• "China is a good neighbor, but it has been dominating us for some decades now," she stated in an interview. They shown their power in both 1962 and 2008. She believes that this historical incident is reoccurring in 2017: "It is happening again now with Doklam...She argues that India ought to think about addressing some of these concerns seriously.
• For over thirty years, Dr. Tessy Thomas has made a substantial contribution to India's missile development lifecycle. She conducts research and development at the HQ Integrated Test Range (HQITR) in Chandipur, Orissa, which is in charge of carrying out ballistic missile test flights and related operations.
• Tessy Thomas joined the DRDO full-time in 1985 and subsequently rose to the position of Head of the Missiles Division. She became the Technical Director of HQITR in 1988 and assembled a capable team to create ballistic missiles for the Indian Army.
• Tessy Thomas joined DRDO in 1996 as the Controller for Ballistic Missile Flight Test Programs, where she oversaw the administration of all national missile programs.