Pakistans Forgotten Nobel Laureate

[Zakk]

A sad read…not that I have a high opinion of Nobel Laureates..I mean they gave one to V S Naipaul!

Pakistan’s Nobel Laureate
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-11-2002_pg3_6
Farhatullah Babar

Salam had wanted to set up the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Pakistan and requested Ayub Khan for an initial grant of a million dollar to built the necessary building and facilities. But Ayub Khan’s financial advisors rejected the idea and Professor Salam reluctantly accepted the Italian offer for setting up the Centre

Six years ago Pakistan’s Nobel Laureate, indeed the Muslim world’s first noble laureate Professor Abdus Salam, died at the age of 71 after a mysterious illness which rendered him speechless even though could understand what was being said to him.

Salam’s sixth death anniversary on November 21 came and passed unnoticed — no official tribute was paid to the great scientist. The state machinery was involved with putting in place “sustainable democracy”. A Prime Minister was foisted upon us with the help of ten renegades of a mainstream political party which was shielded by the suspension of the relevant constitutional provision forbidding floor crossing. Officials hailed state-sponsored factionalism born of bribery; paid tributes to the renegades as great patriots and rewarded four elected members sought by NAB and courts for corruption with ministerial positions. It all happened that one day but there was no official word commemorating Salam’s scientific achievements and the honour he brought to the country.

There could have been another reason for this indifference. When on the eve of his seventieth birthday some friends of Salam got together to honour him, the intolerant ones in religious parties warned of dire consequences. They had not forgiven Salam for his faith. “Any function held to honour Salam would amount to defaming Pakistan”, warned the Aalmi Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatam-e-Nabbuwat, demanding that a case be brought against Salam for “ridiculing Pakistan”. With over 60 members of the religious parties now sitting in the Parliament, the Musharraf government might have thought it prudent to ignore the death anniversary.

Abdus Salam was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 along with two American professors for his pioneering work in unifying two of the four basic forces of nature namely the weak nuclear and electro-magnetic forces. He proved independently that these two forces were one and the same.

He also led Pakistan into space age and was the founding chairman of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Committee (SUPARCO). He was also Chief Scientific Advisor to the President, a position he resigned in 1974 when the National Assembly declared Ahmadies non-Muslims. However, on late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s suggestion he continued giving advice, helping informally the development of science and technology in the country. Although he had no official status he was consulted in scientific policy and planning matters.

Salam’s most impressive contribution for the promotion of science in developing countries has been the setting up of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste in Italy in 1964. He conceived and built the centre — created it out of virtually nothing. “The Trieste Centre was created, and continues to thrive, through a singular force — the perennial will power of its Director Abdus Salam is a manifestation of that imaginary concept of mechanics — the irresistible force”, says a moving citation by a university conferring upon the founder the honorary doctoral degree.

He had wanted to set up the Centre in Pakistan and requested Ayub Khan for an initial grant of a million dollar to built the necessary building and facilities but Ayub Khan’s financial advisors rejected the idea and Professor Salam reluctantly accepted the Italian offer for setting up the Centre there. However, he never gave up the idea of establishing a branch of Trieste Centre at Islamabad because he wanted to retire in his own country and train young physicists. But this remained a dream never unfulfilled.

Salam’s love for his country was never affected by the treatment meted out to him by some of his fellow countrymen. The custodians of religious morality in Pakistan greeted the conferment of Nobel Prize on him in 1979 with scepticism, even contempt. On the eve of the Eid congregation that year the imam of the Markazi Jamia Masjid (also called Lal Masjid) bemoaned the fact that Abdus Salam had been given this award. His explanation for this was — “Salam is a Qadiani and the Jews have honoured him because of their enmity towards Islam”. As if that was not enough the imam further declared, “Salam had been rewarded for selling Pakistan’s nuclear secrets.”

The Physics department of the Quaid-e-Azam University wanted to invite him for a talk but desisted because of the threats from extremists. Salam was compelled to deliver the Nobel lecture at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) far away from the reach of fanatics.

The special convocation for awarding him an honorary doctorate degree was also not held in the University campus for fear of a backlash. On the advice of the Interior ministry, the convocation was held in the old parliament building in Islamabad, a safe distance from the University. A large contingent of the police was posted there to ensure that no untoward incident took place.

Professor Salam however took such criticism and opposition in his stride. “If you consider me to be a non-Muslim, it is your problem”, he once said, “but permit me to lay a brick in the mosque you want to build”. But they did not want him to lay a brick.

Thankfully, the rest of the world realised his worth. Professor Salam was widely acclaimed worldwide. A moving eulogy read out by Professor Visasoro the Director of ICTP on Salam’s death anniversary said:

“On the occasion of the first year anniversary of the death of Abdus Salam, let us celebrate the accomplishments of this extraordinary man and let us honour his memory by renaming the Institution to which he devoted so much of his intelligence and energy, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. It’s the right thing to do for both the man and the institution.”

Once during visit to Beijing, the Chinese Academy hosted a dinner in his honour, which was to be attended by the Prime Minister. But the urge to honour Salam was so great that the Chinese President broke the protocol and came to attend the dinner.

He was once asked what inspired him to arrive at the discovery, which earned him the Nobel Prize. “Whenever faced with two competing theories for the same set of observation I have always found that the theory which was more aesthetically satisfying is also the correct one”, Salam would answer and then quote Sura Malak of the Quran, which says that there is no imperfection in God’s creations.

When he received the Nobel Prize in 1979, he was immediately invited by Indira Gandhi to visit India. But Salam, a great patriot, declined the invitation. He knew how important it was that he should first visit Pakistan (which he did as a state guest). He also spurned offers to become a British or Italian national.

Seeing him crippled in the last days of his life by a rare disease one could not help but wonder about Nature’s unfairness.

Farhatullah Babar is the spokesman of Pakistan People’s Party

[mo_best]

Thats unfortunate, Pakistan should honor our greatest citizen bar Quaid-e-Azam, with a major rememberance and so on.

[RajputFury]

This is complete BS inspired by the Mullah Lobby of Pakistan. Salam was an Ahmadi, but who cares?? He was a son of the soil who loved Pakistan dearly and for us to deny him that is not only sad but reflects horrendously on us. We can complain all day about the West or Israel doing this or that but what got them to their position? Intellectual ability. For us to disregard our few gems like Salam leads me to believe that we are destined for a small minded mediocrity of the third world.

Zakk, wonderful service your doing in enlightening us. Ch. Rehmat Ali and Sardar Abdur-rab Nishtar also come to my mind when we think of great but neglected Pakistanis.

[moona]

Quaid-E-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah :k: :k: :k:

[balram]

It is really typical of pakistan’s regimes to disregard and ignore people with true intelligence. note all of Salam’s character building occurred before emergence of pakistan and all his achievements occurred outside and in spite of pakistan’s governments’ impotence. In spite of that, this man seems to have attempted to return to pakistan and help with much needed nation building, only to be rejected by the madrassa gangs.

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1979/salam-bio.html

Abdus Salam – Biography
Abdus Salam was born in Jhang, a small town in what is now Pakistan, in 1926. His father was an official in the Department of Education in a poor farming district. His family has a long tradition of piety and learning.

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 Panjab, the whole town turned out to welcome him. He won a scholarship to Government College, University of the Panjab, 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 Panjab 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.

In 1954 Salam left his native country for a lectureship at Cambridge, and since then has visited Pakistan as adviser on science policy. His work for Pakistan has, however, been far-reaching and influential. He was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and was Chief Scientific Adviser to the President from 1961 to 1974.

Since 1957 he has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London, and since 1964 has combined this position with that of Director of the ICTP, Trieste.

For more than forty years he has been a prolific researcher in theoretical elementary particle physics. He has either pioneered or been associated with all the important developments in this field, maintaining a constant and fertile flow of brilliant ideas. For the past thirty years he has used his academic reputation to add weight to his active and influential participation in international scientific affairs. He has served on a number of United Nations committees concerned with the advancement of science and technology in developing countries.

To accommodate the astonishing volume of activity that he undertakes, Professor Salam cuts out such inessentials as holidays, parties and entertainments. Faced with such an example, the staff of the Centre find it very difficult to complain that they are overworked.

He has a way of keeping his administrative staff at the ICTP fully alive to the real aim of the Centre - the fostering through training and research of the advancement of theoretical physics, with special regard to the needs of developing countries. Inspired by their personal regard for him and encouraged by the fact that he works harder than any of them, the staff cheerfully submit to working conditions that would be unthinkable here at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA). The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award he spent on setting up a fund for young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He uses his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries and does not spend a penny of it on himself or his family.

Abdus Salam is known to be a devout Muslim, whose religion does not occupy a separate compartment of his life; it is inseparable from his work and family life. He once wrote: “The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah’s created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a grace for which I render thanks with a humble heart.”

The biography was written by Miriam Lewis, now at IAEA, Vienna, who was at one time on the staff of ICTP (International Centre For Theoretical Physics, Trieste).

From Les Prix Nobel 1979.

[Adnan_Ahmed]

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mo_best: *
Thats unfortunate, Pakistan should honor our greatest citizen bar Quaid-e-Azam, with a major rememberance and so on.
[/QUOTE]

Im surprised to hear you say that... I would think you would be the for runner in trying to have Prof Salam hung from a tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Adnan_Ahmed]

*Originally posted by balram: *
It is really typical of pakistan’s regimes to disregard and ignore people with true intelligence. note all of Salam’s character building occurred before emergence of pakistan and all his achievements occurred outside and in spite of pakistan’s governments’ impotence. In spite of that, this man seems to have attempted to return to pakistan and help with much needed nation building, only to be rejected by the madrassa gangs.

http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1979/salam-bio.html

Abdus Salam ?Biography
Abdus Salam was born in Jhang, a small town in what is now Pakistan, in 1926. His father was an official in the Department of Education in a poor farming district. His family has a long tradition of piety and learning.

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 Panjab, the whole town turned out to welcome him. He won a scholarship to Government College, University of the Panjab, 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 Panjab 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.

In 1954 Salam left his native country for a lectureship at Cambridge, and since then has visited Pakistan as adviser on science policy. His work for Pakistan has, however, been far-reaching and influential. He was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and was Chief Scientific Adviser to the President from 1961 to 1974.

Since 1957 he has been Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College, London, and since 1964 has combined this position with that of Director of the ICTP, Trieste.

For more than forty years he has been a prolific researcher in theoretical elementary particle physics. He has either pioneered or been associated with all the important developments in this field, maintaining a constant and fertile flow of brilliant ideas. For the past thirty years he has used his academic reputation to add weight to his active and influential participation in international scientific affairs. He has served on a number of United Nations committees concerned with the advancement of science and technology in developing countries.

To accommodate the astonishing volume of activity that he undertakes, Professor Salam cuts out such inessentials as holidays, parties and entertainments. Faced with such an example, the staff of the Centre find it very difficult to complain that they are overworked.

He has a way of keeping his administrative staff at the ICTP fully alive to the real aim of the Centre - the fostering through training and research of the advancement of theoretical physics, with special regard to the needs of developing countries. Inspired by their personal regard for him and encouraged by the fact that he works harder than any of them, the staff cheerfully submit to working conditions that would be unthinkable here at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA). The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award he spent on setting up a fund for young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He uses his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries and does not spend a penny of it on himself or his family.

Abdus Salam is known to be a devout Muslim, whose religion does not occupy a separate compartment of his life; it is inseparable from his work and family life. He once wrote: “The Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah’s created laws of nature; however, that our generation has been privileged to glimpse a part of His design is a bounty and a grace for which I render thanks with a humble heart.”

The biography was written by Miriam Lewis, now at IAEA, Vienna, who was at one time on the staff of ICTP (International Centre For Theoretical Physics, Trieste).

From Les Prix Nobel 1979.

O my god.. Im actually agreeing with you on this!!!
Who said theres no such thing as miracles:)