India’s missile woman Dr Tessy Thomas honoured with eighth Paulos Mar Gregorios Award

Having served as Project Director for the Agni-IV ballistic missile at DRDO, her leadership helped advance India’s long-range missile capability.

In her acceptance speech, Dr Thomas dedicated the award to “the countless individuals who shaped her journey as a scientist, including her family, her co-workers, mentors and to those who dream of science and its possibilities.” She described how, as a child in Kerala, her imagination “wandered beyond coconut trees,” fascinated by jets that left trails “like clouds in the sky,” and wondering whether she “could bring the moon into my room.”

Mentored by former President and Director General, DRDO, APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr Thomas recalled the late-night brainstorming sessions he held with the teams as they worked on over 50 missile launches.

The ceremony also marked the inaugural event of the Delhi Diocese’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. It drew senior clergy and public figures, including the Catholicos Moran Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, and BML Munjal University (BMU) Vice-Chancellor Shymdas Balakrishna Menon, amongst others.

The award was instituted in the memory of Paulos Mar Gregorios, the scholar, theologian and former President of the World Council of Churches. “His intellect had a deep spiritual foundation, one that served as a moral compass and infused his activities with a concern for the ordinary man and woman. The award is given for a life of concerted action in these fields,” the official statement said.