Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam usually referred to as Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is the current President of India. He is referred as the Missile Man of India. Abdul Kalam was born on 15th October 1931 at Rameswaram in Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu to a working class Tamil Muslim family. He received his degree in aeronautical engineering from the Madras Institute of Technology in 1958.

     Kumaraswami Kamaraj, better known as K. Kamaraj (July 15, 1903-October 2, 1975) was an Indian politician widely known as a kingmaker in Indian politics, and remembered for his honesty, integrity and simplicity. He was involved in the Indian independence movement and was a close ally of Jawaharlal Nehru. He was instrumental in bringing to power two Prime Ministers, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1964 and Indira Gandhi in 1966. He was affectionatly known as the Gandhi of the South, the Black Gandhi, and in Tamil Nadu, his home state he is still hailed for facilitating the spread of education to millions of the rural poor during the 1950s.

     Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5, 1888 - April 17, 1975), was a philosopher and statesman. He introduced Western idealism into Indian philosophy. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Teacher's Day in his honour. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Sarvepalli is his family name) was born at Tiruttani, a town in Tamil Nadu, South India, 64 km to the northwest of Chennai. His primary education was in Gowdie School,Tiruvallur,and higher school education in P.M.High School,Gajulamandyam,Renigunta. He graduated with a Master's Degree in Arts from the University of Madras.

     Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari (b. December 10, 1878 - d. December 25, 1972), known as Rajaji or C.R., was an Indian lawyer, writer and statesman. He was the second Governor-General of independent India. Later he became the Chief Minister of Madras State, and was one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna (in 1954). Rajagopalachari was born in a small village called Thorapalli of the then Salem District. (Now Thorapalli is in Krishnagiri District.)

     Maruthur Gopala Ramachandran (January 17, 1917-December 24, 1987) popularly known as MGR, Puracthi Nadigar, Ponmana Chemmal and Puratchi Thalaivar. He was a long time Tamil film actor and Chief Minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death. He was born at Nawalapitiya near Kandy, Sri Lanka, to Maruthur Gopalamenon and Satyabhama. After his father's death, MGR settled with his family at Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.

     Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, CBE (November 7, 1888-November 21, 1970) was an Indian physicist, who was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect, which is named after him. Raman was born in Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

     Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (September 16, 1916 - December 11, 2004) popularly known as M.S. was a renowned Carnatic vocalist. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna. M.S.Subbulakhsmi was born to a musical family, in the temple town of Madurai. M.S. started learning Carnatic music from a very early age and released her first recording at the age of 10.