All About Tessy Thomas: First Woman To Head Missile Mission In India

Tessy Thomas,  known as the 'missile woman of India', will address 1,800 participants at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES). The summit will be held in Hyderabad from November 28-30.

Interestingly, she is the only person based in Hyderabad who has made it to the panel of GES speakers.

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But who is Tessy Thomas? Read on to know more

• Tessy Thomas was born in April 1963 in Alappuzha, Kerala. Her father was a small businessman and her mother a homemaker. She completed her graduation in engineering from Government Engineering College, Thrissur.
• She also has an M.Tech in Guided Missile from the Institute of Armament Technology, Pune (now known as the Defence Institute of Advanced Technology).
• Her proclivity towards rockets and missiles stems from the fact that she grew up near a rocket launching station.

• She headed the 3,000 km range Agni-III missile project. She was the project director for mission Agni IV which was successfully tested in 2011

• Tessy was appointed as the Project Director for 5,000 km range Agni-V in 2009. The missile was successfully tested on 19 April, 2012.
• She is often referred to as 'Agniputri' or one born of fire, after the missiles she has helped develop.
• She married Saroj Kumar, who is now a commander in the Indian Navy. They have a son Tejas.

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• Thomas' introduction at GES will be about how she mentored and nurtured scientists.
• "As project and technology leader, she has played a major role in mission design and infrastructure development. She has developed production teams from various industries for process and product development," the introduction about Tessy Thomas reads.