Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

Science & Technology Science & Nature
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by **
Adil Najam**

It should be a moment of deep reflection for all of us. He would have been as great a man as he was even if he did not won the Nobel Award in physics. But we would have conveniently forgotten him. That he did win the Nobel award is a source of cosmetic and hollow pride for many Pakistanis. Cosmetic and hollow because it is also a source of visible unease. Even when we acknowledge that he was a great scientist (after all, the Nobel Committee thought so), we are uncomfortable acknowledging that he was a great man whose significance goes beyond his science.
http://pakistaniat.com/images/Salam/Salam-14.jpghttp://pakistaniat.com/images/Salam/Salam-21.jpghttp://pakistaniat.com/images/Salam/Salam-Nobel.jpg
As a brutally honest editorial in today’s Daily Times](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\22\story_22-11-2006_pg3_1) points out, “we are scared of honoring Dr. Salam.” We must not be.
The Daily Times editorial](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\22\story_22-11-2006_pg3_1) says all that needs to be said; it is worth reading, worth thinking about, and worth quoting in full:
The tragedy of our treatment of Dr Abdus Salam
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Dr Abdus Salam (1926-1996) died thirtheen years ago. He was the first Pakistani to get a Nobel Prize in 1979. But he might be the last if we continue to allow our state to evolve in a way that frightens the rest of the world. Our collective psyche runs more to accepted ‘wisdom’ than to scientific inquiry; and even if we were to display an uncharacteristic outcropping of individual genius the world may be so frightened of it that it might not give us our deserts.
We are scared of honouring Dr Salam because of our constitution which we have amended to declare his community as ‘non-Muslim’. When Dr Salam died in 1996 he had to be buried in Pakistan because he refused to give up his Pakistani nationality and acquire another that respected him more. But the Pakistani state was afraid of touching his dead body. He was therefore buried in Rabwa, the home town of his Ahmedi community whose name is also unacceptable to us and has been changed to Chenab Nagar by a state proclamation. But that was not the end of the story. After he was buried, the pious, law-abiding and constitution-loving people of Jhang, which is nearby, went over to Chenab Nagar to see if all had been done according to the constitutional provisions regarding the Ahmedi community to which he belonged.

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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

And what did the constitution say? It said that the Ahmedis are not Muslims, that they may not call themselves Muslims, nor say the kalima or use any of the symbols of Islam. The original amendments to the constitution were passed by Z A Bhutto, a ‘liberal socialist-democrat’, and subsequent tightening of the law was done by the great patriot General Zia-ul Haq. Thus both the civilians and the khakis had connived in the great betrayal of Dr Salam.

After the great scientist was buried in Chenab Nagar, his tombstone said “Abdus Salam the First Muslim Nobel Laureate”. Needless to say, the police arrived with a magistrate and rubbed off the ‘Muslim’ part of the katba. Now the tombstone says: Abdus Salam the First Nobel Laureate. The magistrate remained unfazed by what he had done but Dr Salam’s grave is actually the tombstone of a Muslim culture that Pakistan had inherited from the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. But ironies fly thick in Pakistan. In Jhang, for example, where Dr Salam grew up as a precocious child, the schools that he endowed with scholarships and grants now teach communal hatred rather than the love that he had in mind when he gave them his money. Meanwhile, the Ahmedi community is under daily pressure and anyone with a twisted mind is free to persecute them.
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Abdus Salam was born in Jhang in 1926. At the age of 14, he got the highest marks ever recorded for the Matriculation Examination in Punjab. The whole town turned out to welcome him. He won a scholarship to Government College, Lahore, 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.

In 1954 Dr Salam left his native country for a lectureship at Cambridge University. Before the Pakistani politicians apostatised him, he was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and Chief Scientific Adviser to the President from 1961 to 1974. Pakistan’s space research agency Suparco was created by him and it is only symbolic that a group of Shia workers of Suparco were put to death in Karachi in 2004 by sectarian terrorists. Like Dr Salam, a lot of gifted Shia doctors have had to leave Pakistan because of the state’s twisted policies.
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Dr Abdus Salam got his Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979. It was a most embarrassing moment for General Zia who had “supplemented” the Second Amendment to the constitution with further comic disabilities against the Ahmedis. He had to welcome the great scientist and had to be seen with him on TV. Since the clerical part of his government was already bristling, he took care to clip those sections of Dr Salam’s speech where he had said the kalima or otherwise used an Islamic expression. It was Dr Salam’s good luck that one of the believers did not go to court under Zia’s own laws to get the country’s only Nobel laureate sent to prison for six months of rigorous imprisonment. Dr Salam then went to India where he was received with great fanfare. He had gone there to simply meet his primary school mathematics teacher who was still alive. When the two met, Dr Salam took off his Nobel medal and put it around the neck of his teacher.

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Let us admit in a whisper that Pakistan did issue a stamp commemorating Dr Salam years ago lest the government come under pressure to remove it from circulation. It is also true that his alma mater, Government College Lahore, now a university, has named certain ancillary departments and academic sessions after him following a long period of obscurantist domination. But Pakistan needs to feel guilty about what it has done to the greatest scientist it ever produced in comparison to the lionisation of Dr AQ Khan who has brought ignominy and the label of “rogue state” to Pakistan by selling the country’s nuclear technology for personal gain. Can we redeem ourselves by doing something in Dr Salam’s memory on this 10th anniversary of his passing that would please his soul and cleanse ours?

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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

Dr.Salam was a great Genius but non-muslim .Adil Najam like Professors who call themselves international citizens (identity less Pakistanis) are just another sick minded who dont know the contribution of Dr.Khan in Pakistn nuclear programme.These modern seculars like Dr.Hoodbhoy dont acknowledge we are saved from India just because of him and his contribution.There is now seperate chair of Salam in Physics Department Government College Lahore in honour of him

http://www.gcu.edu.pk/Salam_Chair.htm

This chair is doing some wonderful work under Dr.Murtaza

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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

*NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ‘FRONTIERS IN PHYSICS’ STARTS AT GC UNIVERSITY LAHORE *

11th National Symposium on ‘Frontiers in Physics’ has been started and will continue till 31st January 2009 in the Bokhari Auditorium. Addressing the ceremony Chief Guest **Prof. Dr. Riazuddin **said that the state of Physics of Pakistan is not very encouraging. In fact, it has somewhat declined from mid sixties to early 90s in quality, not in quantity. The touchstone is whether the physics research carried out in Pakistan and by Pakistanis, who have spent major parts of their careers in Pakistan, has made a major impact on International Physics. He urged the Physicist to improve the state of Physics in Pakistan the initiative has to be taken by the Physics community itself. The Physics community is represented by the Pakistan Physical Society. The Society has to play a proactive role in this respect.

Addressing the Symposium, the Vice Chancellor GC University Lahore Prof. Dr. Khalid Aftab said that a society that is rich in vitality has more of creative persons like Salam. The GC University Lahore has maintained wonderful traditions of academic excellence, research, promotion of new ideas and above all, respect for others views. He said that GCU is modern demand driven, research based, quality conscious, futuristic and affordable public institution. He said, ‘I am pleased to put on record that, courtesy HEC, our university has** 56 foreign professor **in various departments which is the highest number in any Pakistani University’. Dr. Khalid Aftab said that the best intellectual out come of liberal Philosophy was the idea of Courage to Know- which Immanuel Kant called the best motto of enlightenment. Many histories consider the dawn of enlightenment as the true beginning of modernity. It is good luck that Courage to Know is the motto of Ravians.

Dr. G. Murtaza (Professor Salam Chair, GCU) said that this college (which is now a university) is Prof. Salam’s Alma matter, he was student here from 1942 to 46. He was perhaps the only practicing mathematician in the region at the time. He did mathematics all the time and nothing else. In recent years, effort has been made to revive that old tradition of this college. Two special Chairs in Physics – Salam Chair and more recently Rafi Chair have been created.

Dr. Parvaiz Hoodbhoy *delivered the inaugural lecture on *‘The Salam – Weinberg Theory and Beyond’. .The proceedings of the 11th National Symposium on Frontiers of Physics continued for the 2nd day at GC University Lahore. A total of 22 papers were presented in two parallel sessions. *Prof. Dr. Saleemullah *(GCU) spoke on his research on quantum plasmas and Dr. Riaz Khan from the National Fusion Programme presented his research on Tokamak simulations.

**Dr. Sabieh Anwar (LUMS) **gave presentation on seeing chemicals & Physical reactions through nuclear spins. **Dr. A.S Bhatti **spoke on bio sensors in the emerging field of nano technology.

The day concluded with a general body meeting of the Pakistan Physical Society where Past President and Organizers of the Conference spoke on the importance of holding such meetings more regularly. Prof. Dr. Hassan Shah President of the Society highlighted the heed to popularize physics students at school level.

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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

remember the man for what he did and celebrate his accomplishments. what exactly ppl try to gain by labeling him muslim or non-muslim...?

Timepass- December 2012
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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

This is probably an old article, if I remember correctly he passed away in 1996 so 2006 marked 10 years of his passing away.

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Re: Dr. Abdus Salam - Beyond Physics

^ yep… you and I were part of this discussion a couple of years ago - see here:

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/pakistan-affairs/227343-prof-abdus-salama.html

It irks me to no end whenever I think of the appalling treatment our country imparted on a great scientiest like Dr. Abdus Salam.

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**Agreed **

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**I think it’s not your job to declare people muslim, christians, jews or whatever, or are you Hitler? Are you Zia-ul-Haq? What has Zia-ul-Haq THE TRUE MUSLIME given you expect his 2 tooth compared to Dr. Abdus Salam? **

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**ZIaulHAq zinda bad.ZiaulHaq sada shyr ay baqi hyr phyr aey:DAb is se agey khase tahzeeb yafta qisam ke narey laganey ko ji ker raha hy( Nwaz Shareef and Benazeer daor key I mean Zia ker waqat tak naron main sharaft thi;))

Ziaul Haq Ziaul Haq tha a Dr. Abdulsalam abdulsalam why are you mixing ornages with apples:faizy:
ham ne inkar kab kiya hy os ki zahant se magar baat ye hy is qisam ker prises dainey waley agar bais /bigotry or prejudice se Paak hain tu Muslims main bhi nabhgha-e-rozgar log paaey jaty hain on ka kam unhin kion nazar nahi atta is qisam ke logon ka kam hi kion nazar ata hy.Ju Musim nahi maney jaty among Muslims just because ke agar nahi manty tu ab on ki shuhrat o daolat ki waja se mainain gey.
:chai:
Bas Zia ne “zameni hoorron” ko kafi pabandion main kerny ki koshish ki tu Zameeni Horoon ke chany waley os se naraz rehty hain:D

**

Timepass- December 2012
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wow, you have a good memory! Honestly, reading my own posts was a good refresher for me and lol @ the guy who thought we were talking about the indian scientist Kalam who became the president.

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Akhir Phd ker arhy hain y aker chuky hain koi ais waisi bat tu nahi:D
Aap log sarah rahy hain na sarah lo ju nahi aisa kerty unhin majboor tu nahi kiya ja skata aisa kerney per.

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[mod] Please spare S&T from all this religious and political bickering. If you guys want to have such discussion, do it in Religion and Pakistan Affairs section. S&T is not the place for these discussions[/mod]

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aap ki farsi mujhe samajh nahee atti

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I know:D

Mr. Dhoni - please step aside
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Agar aisa hy Tu ye Author ko ye kehny ki zarorat nahi key Pakistanion ne qadar nahi ki. Kion nahi ki is ki wazahat tu aey gi na phir. Apni bari main sab keh lo gey science and tech main dosra boley tu mazhabi side per ley jaty hu:hoonh:

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Muhtarma zara iss baat par bhi ghoor kejeye, har baat mouqa mehl dekh kar karni chaheye. MAtric kai Physics kai paper mai agar aap beth kar Ibn-e-Yahyah kai sciensii kaam kai bajaye uski shairee kai qaseedai likhain gein tu kya hasil ho ga! Jab du sections yahan mojoood hain , jahan ye baat tafseel sai ki ja sakti hai, tou logon ko wahan he aysi batain karni chaheye. har jagah baiwaqt ki raagni alaapnai sai kuch hasil naheen hota.:chai:

Timepass- December 2012
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**Muhtram be waqat ki ragni aap keh rahy hain. Bawaqat bat ki hai agar yahan sirf on ki scince khidmat ka zikar kerna maqsood hy tu yeh kion likha giya,"aap ko mod bana diya giya tu matlab y enahi ky her aik ki bat by waqat ki ragni lagy,

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**Author/writer jab yahan bat ker raha hai ya farz kijiy link dey ker quote ker rah ahy kahin se tu woh ye Ahmadion wala zikar khud se remove ker dyta is ko khalis ghyr janibdar or mazhabi alaishon se paak thread rakhney ky liy
Ab baat yahan is moqy or location pe rhoi tu ham kion mazhabi forum main j aker kiya jwan dain.
PS:1. Main JL nahi hon samjhey i sbychary ko khamkhwa so nakton main aik naak wala ullo baniya howa hy os thread main ji sper spock dad o tehseen ke dongerey bersa rah ahai:hoonh:
2. Agar hamain nasehat hu rahi hy tu underlined text bhi remove hu yahan se or kahin or discuss kero ye. Why he brought this Ahmdi/Rabwa issue and crticizing Our constitution:aq:
**Science ko science tak rakhu

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correct me if I am wrong! doesn’t my warning say the same thing! that** leave all this RELIGIOUS and POLITICAL bickering for OTHER sections! S&T is not the place for this discussion**. in plain urdu SCIENCE ko SCIENCE tak rakhu :rolleyes: The message is for ALL parties INCLUDING the thread openner.
The discussion should be aimed at his SCIENTIFIC work thats why I left the thread open, if members can’t do it without bringing Ahmadiyat/muslim hatered in between, then I will have to remove all those posts.
I have nothing else to say, in your own words SCIENCE ko SCIENCE tak he rakhna chaheye.

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I found a review of his biography from amazon from some guy in MD who got his PhD under Salaam.

By **William R. Franklin “Illuminatus”

**](http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2SFTMZMKZ4IT/ref=cm_cr_dp_pdp) (Timonium, MD USA) - See all my reviews
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reputation/c7y_badge_rn_1.V47060296.gif Abdus Salam was one of the most important physicists of the latter half of the twentieth century and the story of his journey from a poor village in the Punjab to the Nobel Prize would be fascinating and remarkable in its own right. But Salam was also a devout Muslim and pursued his devotion to his religion and its culture, especially its scientific heritage, with an equal passion.

This delightfully crafted work explores both sides of Salam’s life discussing not only his most obvious achievement in formulating the most successful theory of modern physics but also his tireless support of scientific education in the third world. Mr. Fraser discusses science, politics and history with equal effectiveness. I earned my Ph.D. under Salam but still learned a great deal more about him from this book - both about his private life and his relations with his scientific colleagues.