Historical Figure
Abdus Salam
1926–1996
Pakistani theoretical physicist (1926–1996)
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Biography
Mohammad Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. He shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow "for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current". He was the first Pakistani, first Muslim scientist, and second person from any Muslim country to win a Nobel Prize.
In Their Own Words (3)
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.
Address to UNESCO (1979), as published in Ideals and Realities: Selected Essays of Abdus Salam (1989), p. 251. , 1979
In the Holy Book of Islam, Allah says: "Thou seest not, in the creation of the All-merciful any imperfection, Return thy gaze, seest thou any fissure. Then Return thy gaze, again and again. Thy gaze, Comes back to thee dazzled, aweary."This in effect is, the faith of all physicists; the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement for our gaze.
Speech at the Nobel Banquet (10 December 1979). , 1979
By generalization of methods developed by Kamefuchi, O'Raifeartaigh, and Salam, conditions for renormalizability of general gauge theories of massive vector mesons are derived. ... It is shown that all theories based on simple Lie groups (with the one exception of the neutral vector meson theory in interaction with a conserved current) are unrenormalizable.
Timeline
The story of Abdus Salam, told in moments.
Founded the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He wanted scientists from developing countries to have a place to do research without emigrating permanently.
Shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for unifying the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces. First Pakistani and first Muslim scientist to win a Nobel.
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