Doctor Abdus Salam, who despite the cold shoulder of ignorant Pakistanis, remained a great patriot and a beacon and inspiration to many in the developing world…
Sad, people accuse him of not having done enough for Pakistan, yet I suspect that had he not been an Ahmadi, the fact that he was a Nobel Laureate would have been enough to atleast have a street named after him. I wish Pakistanis could idolize and admire people like Salam instead of proping up murdering Afghan warlords and Arab invaders as their sole source of inspiration…
Abdus Salam: Nobel Laureate Par Excellence
Manbir Singh Chowdhary
During my first lecture at USC Law School, I looked around the room and noticed a smiling face in my direction. I nodded my head in acknowledgement and smiled back. After class, the smiling face came up and introduced himself. “I have many Sikh friends,” he said.
The student’s name was Saif-ur-Rahman, the grandson of the Muslim world’s first ever Nobel Laureate - Professor Abdus Salam of Pakistan.
His grandfather, regarded as one of the foremost theoretical physicists of his generation, shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979 for his contribution to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including the prediction of the weak neutral current.
“What that [electroweak] theory did was to show that certain well-known interactions between elementary particles - for example, the so-called ‘weak’ force that eventually drives every neutron to decay into a proton and an electron - could be treated as part of the much more familiar electro-magnetic force that acts between all charged particles,” explains physicist John Ziman, friend and colleague of Professor Salam. “It was a hard nut to crack.”
Former editor of New Scientist, Nigel Calder, describes Professor Salam’s life as, “A wonderfully romantic story of a young lad in a turban from a market town in the Punjab, that nobody had heard of, who became a leader of physics and faced up to politicians as a champion of the world’s poor. He wore the same kind of turban as he had worn as a child, to collect his Nobel Prize from the King of Sweden.”
Professor Salam at 14, after recording the highest marks ever on the Matriculation Exam at the University of the Punjab
The Les Prix Nobel, a publication containing the biographies of Nobel Laureates, provides the following information on Professor Salam:
“When he cycled home from Lahore, at the age of 14, after gaining the highest marks ever recorded for the Matriculation Examination at the University of the Punjab, the whole town turned out to welcome him. He won a scholarship to Government College, University of the Punjab, and took his MA in 1946. In the same year he was awarded a scholarship to St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he took a BA (honours) with a double First in mathematics and physics in 1949. In 1950 he received the Smith’s Prize from Cambridge University for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to physics. He also obtained a PhD in theoretical physics at Cambridge; his thesis, published in 1951, contained fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics which had already gained him an international reputation.”
“Salam returned to Pakistan in 1951 to teach mathematics at Government College, Lahore, and in 1952 became head of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University. He had come back with the intention of founding a school of research, but it soon became clear that this was impossible. To pursue a career of research in theoretical physics he had no alternative at that time but to leave his own country and work abroad. Many years later he succeeded in finding a way to solve the heartbreaking dilemma faced by many young and gifted theoretical physicists from developing countries. At the ICTP, Trieste, which he created, he instituted the famous “Associateships” which allowed deserving young physicists to spend their vacations there in an invigorating atmosphere, in close touch with their peers in research and with the leaders in their own field, losing their sense of isolation and returning to their own country for nine months of the academic year refreshed and recharged.”
The International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, was undoubtedly one of Professor Salam’s greatest legacies. “His dreams came true here,” says Saif. “This was the culmination of his vision for developing science and allowed gifted scientists from the Third World to interact with top scientists from advanced nations, without having to forsake their native countries.”
Professor Salam’s achievements established him as an integral part of the international scientific community. He became renowned as an ambassador of science, and perhaps more importantly, a humanitarian who sought to bring people together as opposed to dividing them. He was also a staunch advocate of scientific awareness and development in Third World countries as a fundamental basis for socio-economic progression.
“Our discipline of Physics is an extremely rich discipline. It not only provides us with the understanding of the basic laws of nature, it also is the basis of most of modern high technology. This remark is relevant to our developing countries,” commented Professor Salam in a 1986 lecture at the ICTP in Trieste. “One may note that because of this connection with high technology and materials’ exploitation, physics is the ‘science of wealth creation’ par excellence. This is even in contrast to chemistry and biology which - though as important for development - are ‘survival sciences’. This is in the sense that chemistry and medical sciences provide the survival basis of food production as well as of pharmaceutical expertise. Physics takes over at the next level of sophistication. If a nation wants to become wealthy, it must acquire a high degree of expertise in physics, both pure and applied.”
Professor Salam proudly dressed in a dastaar and traditional Punjabi attire, at the 1979 Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo
According to Saif, winning the Nobel Prize was never about his grandfather’s personal glory, “He saw it as an opportunity to help people from developing countries, and to do something for them.”
Professor Salam receiving the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979
“Collecting his Nobel Prize in a turban and traditional clothing says a lot about who he was. He did it because he wanted to show that he hadn’t forgotten his roots and was proud of coming from a small village in a developing country,” says Saif.
Despite his quest to educate law-makers, in developing nations, about the critical role that science would play in their economic advancement, Professor Salam acknowledged it was no easy task. In a 1981 interview with Denzil Peiris, the Professor responded to the question of why a lack of interest in science and technology exists in the Third World.
“The older I grow the more I feel amazed at the blindness of the developing world towards these really fundamental issues,” replied the Professor. “This is a very difficult matter. You see I don’t know how you can create, at a certain time, a class of men (of administrators interested in science) and let them have their head. It may happen by accident. For example take this country [Great Britain] in the last century. How did it consciously or unconsciously create the empire? There were men here who were motivated. But why? Whenever I visit the gaunt landscape of our Northern Frontier (of Pakistan), the thought comes to me: There used to be one Englishman in this whole division and he had the guts to say, ‘Here, I am the ruler.’ What was impelling these men and where have they gone now? The same thing is true for science and technology. Either you get men who acquire science and technology, and apply it in the service of society or you don’t. I can see some countries are coming up in this respect.”
When I asked Saif about his grandfather’s inspirations, the answer was clear: “He was a devout Muslim, who derived his inspiration from the Holy Qu’ran. He would defy the skepticism of fellow physicists (many of who were atheists) and relate every aspect of his work to the existence of God and His Creation.”
A page from Professor Salam’s notebook containing calculations in his own writing
According to the Former Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and lifelong friend, Munir Ahmad Khan, “Salam was a deeply religious man who saw no contradiction between science and religion. He believed that pursuit of knowledge was a form of prayer and God enjoined upon His followers to seek knowledge and discover the secrets of His creation. Only one Spirit permeated the entire universe and held it together and all forces emanated from the same source. That underlined his faith in the eventual unification of all forces.”
Khan continued, “He believed that science should not be pursued for the sake of science alone. It had to be put to use in the service of man which represented the highest creation of God. He wanted to employ scientific knowledge for the uplift of men and for accelerating the economic and social development of the Third World.”
On November 21, 1997, to commemorate Professor Salam’s death anniversary, Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, to which Professor Salam belonged, sent a moving tribute to the ICTP:
“He [Professor Salam] knew religion, he understood the philosophy of cryptic Su’fism, his knowledge of history was wide and profound. Theoretical Physics was his subject but that was not the only subject of which he had a masterly command. His profound knowledge of chemistry, biology and the universe of sub-particles was amazing. His intimacy with cosmology was no less surprising. But when it came to the vastness of nature and its oneness with the attributes of God it was there that he out-shone all other fields of his intellectual pursuits. His theory of the unified field must have sprung from his total dedication to the Unity of God. He had a firm belief that everything began with Allah and will end up in Him. This might have motivated him to scientifically prove the hypothesis of the unification of the fundamental forces of nature.”
Professor Salam’s scientific accomplishments brought him worldwide recognition and fame, including interaction with a host of world leaders and politicians. “He would push his agenda, the principle of promoting science in the third world that would benefit humanity,” says Saif.
Professor Salam with Pope John Paul II
However, as in the case of other human beings who have contributed so much to our world, Professor Salam’s life wasn’t short of adversity or intense personal conflict.
“In the country of his birth and citizenship, no scientific or other institution, building, or even a street, bears his name. School text books do not mention him, nor are children told about him by their teachers. Fake heroes are spattered all over the place but Salam is never to be found. Reflecting the disdain felt by much of Pakistani academia, a former vice-chancellor of my university scornfully asked in a meeting: ‘Who is Salam? What has he done for Pakistan?’” observed Pervez Hoodbhoy, of the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, at the 1997 Commemoration Day Tribute to Professor Salam at the ICTP.
“It is a fact that Salam had easy access to most world leaders, UN high officials, the Pope, and others, but found it very difficult to be heard by leaders of his own country,” said Hoodbhoy.
Saif echoes similar sentiments, “There’s absolutely no doubt that my grandfather loved Pakistan, and his native Punjab, all his life, unconditionally. He was always working for its progression, and wherever he went he was Pakistan’s proud ambassador. It’s a real tragedy that it was his own country that let him down. The irony is that he could have changed his citizenship as a symbol of protest, but he remained a Pakistani until death.”
When Professor Salam ran for the post of Director General of UNESCO, he needed an endorsement from his country of citizenship. “Pakistan refused to endorse his candidacy,” says Saif. “He was awarded an O.B.E. by the Queen of England and had lived in England long enough to get citizenship there, but he didn’t want it; the Italian government, because of his work at the ICTP, were also offering him citizenship, but, again, he never accepted it (even after Pakistan refused to endorse him).”
The situation didn’t end with a lack of endorsement from the government; propoganda within Pakistan began to emerge saying that Professor Salam was working as a spy for the Indians. I asked Saif about his grandfather’s role in the development of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, and why some sections of Pakistani society accused Professor Salam of selling nuclear secrets to India: “Certain people in government were mad he didn’t want to have anything to do with the construction of a nuclear weapon. The truth is that it went against everything he stood for and believed in. His concept of science was using it to uplift mankind - and not the other way around. It even went against his name, which in Arabic means ‘Servant of Peace’.”
Further reasons for the hostility directed towards Professor Salam in his own country, may be found in Professor Hoodbhoy’s speech on November 21, 1997 at Trieste:
“Before 1974, Salam was legally a Muslim in Pakistan, but subsequently he became a non-Muslim in a state where non-Muslims are, by law, second class citizens. Subsequent to his excommunication by an act of the Pakistani national parliament, and of his Ahmadiyya sect, Salam resigned as Adviser to the President. Although he maintained contacts with the government, scientific institutions, and individuals, in effect he ceased to exercise significant authority,” explains Hoodbhoy.
“Salam never accepted this excommunication,” continues Hoodbhoy. “Subsequently (I think), he developed an intense pride in his heritage and did what no one else - Muslim or other - had done. From dry and dusty history books he rescued the scientific and intellectual achievements of Muslim intellectual giants of a thousand years ago and turned them into symbols of cultural pride. The crucially important thing is that he emphasized these achievements as belonging to the realm of the rational. Salam’s purpose was to rekindle a sense of pride and hope amongst those who had long lost both. He did succeed, but the victory was partial and temporary. No mortal can fight the forces of history, especially when they are orientated towards the past rather than the future.”
Professor Hoodbhoy goes back to Professor Salam’s excommunication of 1974 and looks at the issue from a historical perspective:
“Certainly, the doctrinal differences between Ahmadiyyas and mainstream Muslims are not of the slightest concern to us here - they are just as arcane and impossible to resolve as the differences between, say, Catholics or Protestants or Anabaptists or Calvinists. It is usual, as in the Middle Ages of Europe, for theological disputes to be resolved by the use of force with the weaker side being exterminated or terrorized into fleeing. This is the legacy that every religion has left to mankind. To prevent the majority from slaughtering the minority was precisely the historical reason for the emergence of secularism in Europe. Tragically, the Pakistani state moved the other way and became a party to a theological dispute which had simmered for many years. As it turned out, 1974 was the first step down the slippery slope, the bottom of which is not yet in sight. More and more sects and communities are facing the threat of persecution and possible excommunication as the fires of religious extremism burn even higher.”
In a powerful ending to his tribute, Professor Hoodbhoy points out that Professor Salam, with his ‘characteristic generosity of spirit’ chose to forgive and forget, “He could easily have become very bitter, but remarkably he chose not to go that way. Let us acknowledge and respect this. While Salam was never a cultural libertarian, he did believe that only liberal, tolerant, and pluralistic societies can advance scientifically and culturally. Therefore the best tribute to him would be for each of us, in our own way, to work towards building a global society which offers equal opportinity to all inahbitants of our planet, encourages diversity and creativity, and allows religious beliefs to be pursued without fear.”
Now all the self appointed saviors of Islam are free to exhibit their ignorance… have fun:)
