Happy Birthday Salam, man who brought Nobel home
Dr. Abdus Salam, who won Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979, was first Pakistani to be awarded with it
(Web Desk) – Pakistani scientist Dr. Abdus Salam was born on this day 90 years ago. He was the first Pakistani to win Nobel Prize. He was awarded with the prestigious award in 1979 for his contribution to the iconic electroweak unification. He shared this award with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg.
Dr. Abdus Salam was an extraordinary student who established a reputation as early as 1940, at the age of 14, when he not only topped the matriculation exam at Punjab University but also set a new record since no student at Punjab University had ever secured as many marks before. Salam was thus awarded with a full scholarship at the prestigious Government College (later University) of Lahore. Though his teachers felt he should have carried out his higher studies in English language, Salam preferred Mathematics and in 1944, at the age of just 18, he published Srinivasa Ramanujan’s problems in mathematics. Although he followed his father’s wish to join Indian Civil Service, he failed and went back to Mathematics. Receiving his Masters in Mathematics degree from Government College in 1946, Salam won the scholarship at Cambridge where he completed his Honours in Mathematics and Physics.
Salam continued his research in Physics at Cavendish Laboratory even after completing his Honours and obtained a PhD degree in Theoretical Physics. His work in quantum electrodynamics was published in 1951 and earned him great reputation across the world.
In 1951, Salam came back to Government College, but this time as a Professor of Mathematics. He remained there till 1954 and also started teaching at the neighbouring University of the Punjab at the same time. In 1957, Salam was conferred with another PhD, this time an honorary one, by Punjab University for his work in Particle Physics.
The respect for Salam’s work transcended all borders. He was the one of the youngest scientists to be elected as Fellow of the Royal Society (1959). The same year he took a fellowship at Princeton University. In 1980, he became a foreign fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sceices.
Dr. Abdus Salam’s primary interest as a scientist was theoretical physics. He was also the pioneer of nuclear physics in Pakistan. His most significant contributions were in the fields of quantum electrodynamics and quantum field theory. In 1963, Salam started working with John Clive on symmetries and electroweak unification. In 1964, he started working on Gauge Theory for the weak and electromagnetic interaction. His efforts finally yielded success in 1968 when he formulated a mathematical concept of Standard Model.
Physicists had believed that there were four fundamental forces of nature including gravitational force, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic force. Salam, with assistance from Glashow and Weinberg, proved in 1967 that electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force could be unified and for this unification theory, the three scientists shared Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979.
Dr. Salam was also the pioneer of Pakistan’s nuclear program and headed the group of scientists and engineers formed for this purpose by former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Salam also established the ‘Theoretical Physics Group (TPG)’ in Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).
Together with Riazuddin Siddiqui, Ishfaq Ahmad and other scientists, Salam made PAEC a great institution that continues to help the country in the field of nuclear physics.
Salam also helped influx of many scientists at International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and CERN. In 2015, Pakistan became the first Asian member country of CERN, thanks to Abdus Salam’s efforts.
Dr. Abdus Salam died on November 21, 1996. But he left a lasting impact on physics and the science overall. He was one of the major figures in the field of science in the 20th century and his introduction of the theory of Higgs Bosons to the theory of the Standard Model is one of the greatest services to the 20th century Physics. Salam was the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize (the only one till Malala Yousufzai) and the only Pakistani to win the prestigious award in science.
