Renowned Pakistani scientist and the country’s first Nobel prize winner Dr Abdus Salam was remembered on his death anniversary on Monday.
Dr Abdus Salam was born in Jhang in 1926. 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. Salam returned to Pakistan in 1951 to teach mathematics at Government College, Lahore. He became head of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University in 1952. He worked abroad to pursue a career of research in theoretical physics. At the ICTP, Trieste, which he created, he instituted the famous “Associateships”.
In 1954, Salam left Pakistan for a lectureship at Cambridge, and since then has visited Pakistan as adviser on science policy. He was a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a member of the Scientific Commission of Pakistan and was the chief scientific adviser to the president from 1961 to 1974. Since 1957, he was a professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College, London, and in 1964, combined this position with that of the director of the ICTP, Trieste. For more than forty years, he remained a prolific researcher in theoretical elementary particle physics.
He served on a number of United Nations committees concerned with the advancement of science and technology in developing countries. The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award was spent on setting up a fund for young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He used his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries. Salam died on November 21, 1996 at the age of 70 in Oxford, England after a long illness.
Salam was a devout Muslim and a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who saw his religion as integral part of his scientific work. 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."
In 1974, Salam left Pakistan in protest when Pakistan Parliament controversially passed a parliamentary bill declaring Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as Non-Muslims.
After his death, Salam was buried in Bahishti Maqbara, a cemetery established by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Rabwah, Pakistan next to his parents' graves. The epitaph on his tomb initially read "First Muslim Nobel Laureate" but, because of Salam's adherence to the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, the word "Muslim" was later erased on the orders of a local magistrate.
Salam 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."
In 1974, Salam left Pakistan in protest when Pakistan Parliament controversially passed a parliamentary bill declaring Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as Non-Muslims.
Salam was buried in Bahishti Maqbara, in Rabwah, Pakistan next to his parents' graves. The epitaph on his tomb initially read "First Muslim Nobel Laureate" but, because of Salam's adherence to the Ahmadiyya Muslim sect, the word "Muslim" was later erased on the orders of a local magistrate, leaving the nonsensical "First Nobel Laureate".
PT: what's happening to my comments? can you tell us the reason for not letting it appear?
Prof Salam was a great scientist and a man whose love for Pakistan never faded inspite of the unfortunate lukewarm response by successive regimes who failed to give due respect and recognition. This is what happens when the establishment resorts to exploiting religion.
Mr. Anon,
You comments are visible. I am sure no one would remove them.
Prof. Dr. Abdus salam is he hero of Pakistan but today the young generation of Pakistan don’t know him. here is only one paragraph in the 10 physics book. while he is the only nobel laureate of the country
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