Tessy Thomas Biography 
Tessy Thomas is the Project Director for Agni-IV missile in Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India. This missile scientist has been conferred with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for her outstanding contribution in the field of missile technology and her unparallel contributions to India. Tessy Thomas serves as a role model and an inspiration for women scientists to achieve their dreams and fascinations for a better tomorrow. Now she is also known as Missile woman and Agniputri of India. APJ Abdul Kalam is her inspiration, whom she sees as her role model.
Tessy Thomas was born in Alappuzha in 1963. Her father was a small businessman and her mother, a housewife. Tessy Thomas was named so, as her parents were inspired a lot by Mother Teresa, who helps poor and needy. She was a badminton player during her childhood and now also she used to play with her son and neighbours. Veronica is her favourite science journal.
Tessy took her engineering degree from Government Engineering College, Thrissur. She grew up near a rocket launching station and from those days, she began to dream about this field. She desired to become a scientist one day and her fascination with rockets and missiles prompted her to think so.
So, after completing her B.Tech course at Thrissur, she joined M.Tech in Guided Missile from the Institute of Armament Technology, Pune. Now it’s known as Defense Institute of Advanced Technology. Tessy was the associate project director of the 3,000 km range Agni-III missile project during 1988. She became Project Director for 5,000 km range Agni-V in 2009. The mission was Hyderabad based. She was the project director for mission Agni IV when it was successfully tested in 2011. The missile was successfully tested on 19 April 2012.
Tessy Thomas is married to Saroj Kumar Patel, an officer from Indian Navy, and they have a son, Tejas. Saroj Kumar was her class mate at Pune. Tejas is an engineering student. Being a wife, mother and scientist, Tessy Thomas has given a lot of inspiration to women who never thinks beyond the dreams of their family and happiness of their husbands.
Published: N/A
Updated: July 26, 2013
