Tessy Thomas

Tessy Thomas is an Indian scientist and Director General of Aircraft and the former Project Director for the Agni IV missile project in Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India. She is from Kerala. Unlike her qualities, her name is also unique; she is named after the famous personality of Mother Teresa. Her fascination for rockets and missiles began while she had been living near Thumba rocket launching station. Not only she but her siblings are also equally qualified.

Tessy was brilliant in education from the very beginning. Not only in studies but also in co-curricular activities, she showed her worth.  She began her career from DRDO in 1988. She worked in the department of design and development of the new generation missile, Agni, where she was appointed by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. Then she was appointed as Director-General, Aeronautical Systems of DRDO, where she was the first woman to lead the missile Agni IV and V in India. She is also a lecturer in various universities such as the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Institution of Engineers-India (IEI0, and Tata Administrative Service (TAS). For her achievement, she is known as the “Missile woman of India. She has received many prestigious awards for her work, namely DRDO scientist of the year, India Today women of the year in 2009, Lal Bahadur Sashtri National award for excellence public administration, and many more. Overall a woman also known as “Agniputra” is born to take the world at the highest peak.

Tessy is married to an Indian Navy Commander, Saroj Kumar. The couple has a son, Tejas.