Wednesday 9 September 2015
Dr Abdus Salam (29 January 1926 – 21
November 1996), was a Pakistani theoretical physicist who, when he shared the
1979 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contribution to electroweak unification,
became the first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize.
He was a science advisor to the
Government of Pakistan from 1960 to 1974, a position from which he played a
major and influential role in Pakistan's science infrastructure. Abdus Salam
was responsible for not only major developments and contributions in
theoretical and particle physics, but also for promoting scientific research to
maximum levels in his country. He was the founding director of Space and Upper
Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), and responsible for the establishment
of the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) in Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
(PAEC). As Science Advisor, Salam played an integral role in Pakistan's
development of peaceful use of nuclear energy, and may have contributed to
development of atomic bomb project of Pakistan in 1972; for this, he is viewed
as the "scientific father" of this programme. In 1974, Abdus Salam
departed from his country, in protest, after the Pakistan Parliament passed a
controversial parliamentary bill declaring the Ahmadiyya Community as
not-Islamic. Even after his death, Salam remained one of the most influential
scientists in his country. In 1998, following the country's nuclear tests, the
Government of Pakistan issued a commemorative stamp, as a part of
"Scientists of Pakistan", to honour the services of Salam.
Salam's major and notable achievements
include the Pati–Salam model, magnetic photon, vector meson, Grand Unified
Theory, work on super symmetry and, most importantly, electroweak theory, for
which he was awarded the most prestigious award in physics – the Nobel Prize.
Salam made a major contribution in quantum field theory and advancement of
Mathematics at Imperial College London. With his student, Riazuddin, Salam made
important contributions to the modern theory on neutrinos, neutron stars and
black holes, as well as the work on modernizing the quantum mechanics and quantum
field theory. As a teacher and science promoter, Salam is remembered as a
founder and scientific father of mathematical and theoretical physics in
Pakistan during his term as the chief scientific advisor to the president.
Salam heavily contributed to the rise of Pakistani physics to the physics
community in the world. Even until his death, Salam continued to contribute to
physics and tirelessly advocated for the development of science in Third-World
countries.
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