Dr Abdus Salam- Champion of Science in the Third World

By Zakaria Virk, Kingston, ON

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The year is 1956; Professor Blackett of Imperial College, London was looking for
someone to fill the position of chairman in the department of theoretical physics One of
the selected candidates had to appear before Professor Temple for a formal interview who
was very fond of Dr Eddington’s book on astronomy.
 

During the job interview Prof. Temple asked the candidate who did not have a
favorable opinion of the said book, what did he think of Eddington’s book? The
candidate replied :

I had not read the book with the detachment of a neutral mind.

Prof Temple was very impressed with the reply, and remarked:

Young man, you should go to the diplomatic service.

Another Incident :

When Prof Salam was studying in Princeton, New Jersey, one day he met Prof
Einstein casually on the campus of Institute for Advanced Study. Einstein asked him
what research are you doing? Salam replied, I am working on renormalization theory.
Einstein said I am not interested in that. After a few moments Einstein asked have you
studied my Relativity theory ? Salam replied, I am not interested in that.

Ladies & Gentleman:

I have slected these two incidents from the eventful life Prof Abdus Salam, first
Muslim and Pakistani scientist to have won the Noble prize in physics in 1979.

Here is how Prof Sheldon Glashow of Boston University, another Noble Prize
winner, has described Prof Salam:

Abdus Salam and I knew each other very well. My colleagues at this meeting will
undoubtedly recall Abdus Salam as an inspirational mentor, as a world renowned
scientist, as the creator of International Centre for Theoretical Physics and its guiding
spirit for 30 years and as a champion of science and technology in the Third World.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

In this paper I am going to give you a glimpse of Prof Abdus Salam’s  contributions to the third world to which Prof Glashow has made reference. Prof Abdus Salam wore many hats, he was an able administrator, an educator, a respected teacher, a world statesman, a scientist, and above all champion of third world causes.



Did you know why he established the world renowned ICTP in Trieste, Italy? He
did it for one reason and one reason only, that is the scientist in third world could study
and use modern scientific equipment without migrating to a western country. This is what
he had experienced himself when he had to make a choice between looking after a soccer
team at Government College Lahore and doing research in modern science. Fortunately
he opted for research in theoretical physics for which he had to leave his beloved
Pakistan.

Some facts about Dr Abdus Salam

Did you know:

1. Dr Abdus Salam was the first Pakistani Muslim to receive Noble prize.
2. Dr Abdus Salam Prize for Young Pakistani Scientists is given every year in Pakistan.
3. The International Centre for Theoretical Physics he found in 1964 is now
    Called Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics
4. There is a Dr Abdus Salam Science Institute in the Republic of Benin.
5. There is a street named after him in (Route Abdus Salam), Bern, Switzerland.
6. There is a street named after him (Abdus Salam Street), in Maple, On.
7. Abdus Salam Medal is given annually by Third World Academy of Sciences.
8. Pakistan government issued a Rs 2.00 stamp on Nov 21, 1998
9. Republic of Benin issued a postal stamp in November 2001.

Organizations founded by Dr Salam:

1. He founded ICTP in Trieste, Italy in 1964. – ICTP
2. He founded Third World Academy of Sciences – TWAS in 1985
3. He founded Third World Organization for Women in Science- TWOWS
4. He founded Third World Network for Scientific Organizations -TWNSO

Third World Academy of Sciences

Now I will give you a brief account of this wonderful world institution which is brainchild of Prof Abdus Salam. The motto of the academy is Promoting scientific excellence for sustainable development in the South. TWAS is an autonomous international organization, founded in Trieste, Italy in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam It was officially launched by the then-secretary
general of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, in 1985. Since its inception,
TWAS's operational expenses have largely been covered by generous contributions of the
Italian government.

The Academy's more than 600 Fellows and Associate Fellows are elected from
Among the world's most distinguished scientists. Fellows are citizens of the South;
Associate Fellows are citizens of the North who either were born in the South or have
made significant contributions to the advancement of science in the South. About 80
percent of TWAS's membership are Fellows representing some 60 countries in the
South. A Council elected by members every three years, is responsible for
supervising all Academy affairs. A small secretariat headed by an Executive Director
Muhammad Hassan assists the Council in the administration and coordination of the
programmes The secretariat is located on the premises of Abdus Salam ICTP in
Trieste, Italy.
 

Since 1986 TWAS has supported scientific research in 100 countries in the
South through a variety of programes. More than 2,000 eminent scientists
worldwide, including TWAS members, peer review proposals free-of-charge for
research grants, fellowships and awards that are submitted to the Academy by
scientists and institutions in developing countries.

Contributions to the development of science & technology in Pakistan

(1) Prof Salam was scientific advisor to various Presidents from 1958- 74. In this
capacity he devised science policy which laid the groundwork for later critical scientific
developments.

(2) He was member Pakistan Atomic Energy commission, he prepared a blueprint for
Nuclear Processing Plant which was turned down by President Ayub Khan

(3) He was Founder, chairman of space agency called SUPARCO, he was present at the
launch site in Karachi along with Dr Usmani when Pakistan's first rocket Rahbar I was
fired into space around 1961

(4) He assisted in the purchase of a nuclear reactor from France for KANUPP
(Karachi Nuclear Power Plant).

(5) Member National Science Council, which published his comprehensive report in
1970.

(6) He selected the site which became future home of PINSTECH

(7) He was Advisor to the Education commission and member scientific commission of
Pakistan in 1959 which prepared framework for science education.

(8) He prepared a draft for Islamic Science Foundation presented at the Lahore
Islamic Summit in 1974, single handedly organized by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

(9) He assisted in the training of close to 500 scientists, engineers and technologist to
study in Europe and USA. Many foremost Pakistani scientists got admission in the US
universities mainly because of his connections and in many cases he paid for student’s expenses from his own pocket.

(10) Prof Salam was instrumental in having shipped used books, science journals and
laboratory equipment to many universities and colleges in Pakistan.

(11) Founded the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy where
hundreds of Pakistani students have been studying higher science subjects and
participating in leading edge research. After their studies these students go back to
Pakistan to enrich the lives of future bright students.

(12) Started the International Nathiagali Summer College which has been taking place
every year for last 28 years. Six Nobel laureates have lectured there since its inception.

(13) It was he who suggested the establishment of an independent federal Ministry of

Science and Technology.

When he received the Nobel Prize in 1979, he felt that he had won it, not for himself, but for the Third World. As such, he felt that he had no right to use the Prize money for personal purposes but that it must be used to further his mission of development of Science in the Third World.

He specially put aside money to help Pakistan and Pakistani students
 

Dr Abdus Salam: a memoir

Khalid Hasan

When Salam came to Pakistan after his Nobel Prize, he met Zia-ul-Haq and after he had explained to him what he understood about the finality of Prophethood, the General recited the kalima, asked Salam to recite it also and said, "You are a better Muslim than I am"

The story is apocryphal but deserves to be told one more time. Sometime in the 1960s at a ladies' soirée all wedded to gentlemen of the long-departed Civil Service of Pakistan - someone mentioned Dr Abdus Salam and how brilliant he was, at which Attiya Inayatullah is said to have asked, "If he is that brilliant, why is he not a CSP?" Needless to say, even Dr Salam with all his mathematics and higher physics could not have answered that one.
Dr Salam was a man of astonishing humility. In Vienna, which he used to visit off and on, I once ran into him as he was walking across the rotunda of the Vienna International Centre where all the UN agencies are housed. We shook hands and chatted for a few minutes in Punjabi which he spoke with that delicious Seraiki lilt that makes the language sound exceedingly sweet. After he had gone his way, a friend of mine who was with me asked who that man was. "Dr Abdus Salam," I replied, "the Nobel Prize laureate". "But he was so utterly simple, I would never have guessed," my friend said. Maybe that was another reason he did not end up as a CSP.
 

I had briefly met Dr Salam at Multan at that famous meeting of scientists which Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called. I next met him in Canada in 1974 when I was serving at the Pakistan embassy. This was after the National Assembly decision declaring the Ahmedis non-Muslim. I went to receive him at the Ottawa airport. At first I did not recognise him because he had a beard. "You have grown a beard," I said. "Yes, the day I was declared a non-Muslim, I decided to follow ' sunnat-e-Rasool (pbuh)' and grow a beard," he replied. He had come to confer with the Canadian government on matters relating to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics he had almost single-handedly established at Trieste, Italy. He had wanted it to be set up in Lahore and would have done so had the Pakistan government showed serious interest. I asked him what his engagements were and when I found that one of his afternoons was free, I suggested that the embassy chauffeur Mirza Abdul Rehman show him around because some of the city's suburbs were very beautiful. He said that would be very nice. On his return to Trieste, he wrote me a letter in which he asked me to thank Mirza Abdul Rehman who had been so kind as to have driven him around Ottawa. That was the sort of man he was. How many Pakistanis would do that? Most of us treat those who serve, be they cooks or drivers, as simply having no existence as human beings. But to Dr Salam such things mattered.
He also told me a Bhutto story. He had resigned as Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Pakistan after the National Assembly decision. When ZAB pressed him in a meeting to take it back, assuring him that it was "all politics" and he would change it at an appropriate time, Salam said to him, "Write that down for me on a plain piece of paper, from Zulfi to Salam, and it will always remain a secret between the two of us. I will then take back my resignation." Bhutto thought for a moment, Salam told me, and replied, "That I cannot do; you see I am a politician."
 

Dr Salam died of a debilitating disease in 1996. Since then there have been many books written about him, to which has now been added an Urdu compendium of tributes and reminiscences of this remarkable man by Canada-based Muhammad Zakariya Virk in a book called Dr Abdus Salam: Musalmanoon ka Newton. It is truly a labour of love (though it could have been better printed and edited) and will bring back to those who read it both the man and the scientist. Dr Salam loved Pakistan and though he could have become the citizen of any country he chose, he never gave up his citizenship and all his life he travelled on that green passport which has needed a visa for every country for years now. In a letter Salam sent to an admirer from Karachi some months before he died, he wrote: "Never doubt your abilities to produce the best in the world but remember the best will not come without hard work. As Muslims we have a great heritage to inspire us and we should never forget that great and learned Muslim scholars a few centuries ago led the world in so many fields." He donated the entire Nobel Prize money in scholarships for students, many of them in his beloved Jhang. He wanted to be buried in Pakistan and willed that if he could for some reason be taken to Pakistan for burial, his tombstone should read, "It was his wish to be buried at the feet of his mother."
 

He found no conflict between Islam and science, and once said that of the three Abrahamic religions, Islam was alone in devoting one-eighth of its holy book to urge a study of nature and to call on people to reflect. When he came to Pakistan after his Nobel Prize, he met Zia-ul-Haq and after he had explained to him what he understood about the finality of Prophethood, the General recited the kalima, asked Salam to recite it also and said, "You are a better Muslim than I am." When Salam was leaving Cambridge after his double tripos, he asked his professor for a testimonial but was told, "You should give me a testimonial that I taught you." In 1986 many countries wanted Salam as UNESCO director-general but the Zia regime nominated Sahibzada Yaqub Khan instead. Khan was roundly defeated despite the Pakistani plea on his behalf that France was saved by a general and another general would save UNESCO.
 

When he died the Times of London wrote, "The death of Abdus Salam leaves the world of theoretical physics without one of its most distinguished and respected members. In addition to his brilliant intellectual gifts, Salam was a man of remarkable vision and outstanding energy who played a major role in developing science throughout the world. He was deeply concerned about the proliferation of nuclear weapons and served on many high-level committees involved in the promotion of international peace and collaboration and in the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy."
 

And how has Pakistan remembered this great son of hers? Exactly as it has remembered another of her sons, Saadat Hasan Manto. Nothing is named after them, no road, no town, no city nothing. But that should not matter because what Salam and Manto accomplished, each in his separate domain, has placed them in the company of immortals. What more can a man ask?

- This is a regular column by TFT's Washington correspondent

Please visit the book "Musalmanon ka Newton".

http://www.alislam.org/urdu/pdf/MusalmanoKaNewton.pdf