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Abdus Salam by Molendijk, Bart / Anefo-

Top 10 Outstanding Facts About Abdus Salam

Many cannot fathom the genius that Abdus Salam was. He was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and a Nobel Prize laureate. Born on January 29th, 1926 in Santokdas, Punjab Pakistan the eldest of eight children. He was born to Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain, father, an educational officer, and mother Hajira Nabi Baksh. Salam was part of a Punjabi Muslim family that was part of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam.

Abdus showed outstanding talent from a tender age in mathematics and science and an enormous love for poetry in English Persian and Punjabi.Salam鈥檚 outstanding brilliance surpassed everyone鈥檚 expectations when he scored the highest marks ever recorded at the age of 14 for the entrance examination at Punjab University. He went on and outdid himself at the University of Cambridge.
Below are some outstanding facts about Abdus Salam :

1. First Muslim Scientist From Pakistan To Win Nobel Prize

Blue plaque erected in London Borough of Wondsworth by Spudgun67-

Abdus Salam is the first Muslim Scientist to receive the Nobel Prize in Science, After Anwar Sadat of Egypt, he was the second from the Islamic community to receive any Nobel Prize. He shared the 1979 Nobel Price with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg.

This was after 1968 when they joined forces and independently brought about the second great unification in physics which was after the first by James Clerk Maxwell. They solely united electromagnetic force with weak nuclear force to produce electroweak force.

2. Abdus Salam Was Rejected By The Indian Railways

As a form of respecting his father鈥檚 wishes to be part of the Indian Civil Service, Salam tried for the Indian Railways. At the time being part of ICS was the highest first achievement for any young university graduate and one held a respectable position in society.

Abdus did not qualify and failed the mechanical test. Apart from that, he was regarded as too young to be viable for the position. The Railways rejected Abdus’s job application. He went on to attend graduate school regardless.

3. He Is A Ph.D. Holder In Theoretical Physics

After completing his MA in the Government College University, within the same year Salam was allocated a scholarship to St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. He accomplished to get Double Fist class honors in Physics and Mathematics. Despite advice to do research in experimental physics for another year, Abdus decided to renew his scholarship and went on to do his doctorate in the United Kingdom.

Salam obtained his Ph.D. and by the time his thesis, that involved work in quantum electrodynamics got published it had already gained him traction and an international reputation.

In the course of his doctoral studies, he solved an intractable problem within six months which had challenged great minds such as Richard Feynman and Paul Dirac. Besides the fact that he had been initially offered a whole year to actually bring forth a solution.

4. Abdus Played An Important Role In The Development Of Pakistan鈥檚 peaceful Nuclear Energy Use

Abdus Salam alongside scientists that worked with him on the nuclear project by unknown photographer-

Salam understood how vital nuclear technology in Pakistan was for peaceful and civilian purposes. He went on to play an enigmatic role in an atomic bomb project in Pakistan. In 1965, Salam led the establishment of a nuclear research institute (PINSTECH). He went on and made the Theoretical Physics Group in PAEC where he led groundbreaking work until 1974.

Abdus went on to make a proposal for the establishment of a nuclear fuel processing plant that was later suspended by Ayub Khan. Salam鈥檚 influence in the project was greatly reduced but he did not entirely terminate his connection with the scientists working in the theoretical physics division at PAEC until mid-1974 when he left the country after the Ahmadiyya community was declared non-muslim.

Between 1972 and 1973, Abdus had been a great supporter of the atomic bomb project and even went on to attend the secret Multan Meeting where the deterrence program was developed. Albeit this greatly changed subsequently when the second amendment to the constitution of Pakistan was declared stating Ahmaddiya to be non-Islamic. Abdus Salam took a stance against the atomic bomb project.

After seeing the Indian aggression towards Northern and Southern Pakistan, he renewed his connections with the scientists working on the atomic bomb project. It is cited in a book by an Indian Scholar Ravi Singh, The Military Factor in Pakistan, that Salam paid a secret visit to China that was vital in the commencing of industrial nuclear cooperation between the two countries.

5. Salam Received Numerous Awards

Abdus Salam & Mansoor Ijaz by Mansoor Ijaz –

Abdus received high civil and science-related rewards from all over the world. He has received over thirty accolades with him being a recipient of the first high civil awards in 1959 and Nishan-e-Imtiaz in 1979 awarded by Pakistan鈥檚 president. Salam received Smith鈥檚 prize from Cambridge University for his outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to theoretical physics.

After winning the Nobel Prize, he was invited as an honorary guest to Quaid-e-Azam University in Pakistan after he left Pakistan due to the declaration that Ahmaddiya is a non-muslim. The ceremony was unfortunately canceled as extremists threatened to break Salam鈥檚 legs if he turned up.

Salam has an award named after him, The Abdus Salam Award, that mainly recognizes individuals who have made significant achievements and contributions in Physics and natural sciences. Additionally, there is the Abdus Salam Medal and the Abdus Salam Shield of Honor in Mathematics awarded to people who served a cause of science in the developing world and recognize quality research in Mathematics respectively.

6. He Made Great Contributions to Physics

Abdus Salam made groundbreaking advancements in Physics and was the founder of Pakistan鈥檚 space program and the space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission was established in 1961.

He introduced Higgs Bosons and forecasts the existence of proton decay. He is regarded as the father of Pakistan鈥檚 school of theoretical physics and in turn, inspired many students who later went on to become scientists.

7. Abdus Salam Was Religious

He always saw his religion as a fundamental part of his work and inseparable. Salam was an Ahmadi Muslim who once wrote 鈥淭he Holy Quran enjoins us to reflect on the verities of Allah鈥檚 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.鈥�

He went on to quote verses from the Quran as part of his acceptance speech. He lived a private life  together with his family incorporating his faith in his everyday life .

8. Salam Is A Humanitarian

Abdus is a Humanitarian who values bringing change to his environment. The money he received from the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award he spent on setting up a fund for students and young Pakistani physicists to visit the ICTP. He uses his share of the Nobel Prize entirely for the benefit of physicists from developing countries for educational purposes.

9. He Has Documentaries Made In His Honor

In 2004, LLC began researching and making advancements in a film on the science and life of Abdus Salam. Subsequently, a fundraising teaser was later released on Salam鈥檚 birthday.

The film Salam; The First * Nobel Laureate was announced for release in 2018 and later released on Netflix in October 2019. Another film, The Dream of Symmetry, was later released in September 2011 by Pilgrim Films. The film depicts the remarkable aspects of Abdus Salam who not only is a humanitarian but also an extraordinary scientist.

10. Abdus Salam Died At The Age Of 70

Abdus Salam’s Grave in Rabwah by Scourgeofgod –

Abdus Salam died on November 21, 1996, at the age of 70. He ailed from a neurological disorder, progressive supranuclear palsy, and passed away in his home in Oxford, England. His body was returned to Pakistan and placed in Darul Ziafat. Over 13000 people went to pay their respect before his funeral with over 30000 people attending his funeral. Salam was buried next to his parents in a cemetery by the Ahmadiyya Community.
Being Ahmadi in Pakistan, the epitaph on his tomb that initially read, First Muslim Nobel Laureate was removed leaving only his name on the tombstone by the order of the local magistrate before moving to the national level.

The world will always remember Abdus Salam despite how he was treated indifferently by his own country even though he had deep love for it.