Sunday Special!-Mohammad Abdus Salam-Jesus Christ (Issa-Masih) of India

Sunday Special!-Mohammad Abdus Salam-Jesus Christ (Issa-Masih) of India


On the Jan 29, 1926, Chaudhry Muhammad Hussein, a teacher and Bibi Hajira Hussien had a baby boy at their two-bedroom abode in Jhang. They named him Abdus Salam; Abdus (Arabic-signifies servitude to God in Islam, Servant/Son; Salam(Peace/one of God in the Qur'an)— ‘Son of God', In Christianity
At the age of 12, in 1938, Abdus Salam was admitted to Jhang’s British India college for his intermediate education. Right from the start, Salam was deeply invested in his academic growth. At 14, he scored record breaking marks in Punjab University's matriculation entrance exams. In 1942, Salam joined the Government College University at Lahore. He enrolled to study Mathematics A and B, and English. 
"A problem of Ramanujan"(Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyengar (22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920) an Indian mathematician,Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all times). He graduated next year with jaw-dropping scores: 300 out of 300 marks in Mathematics, 121 out of 150 in English Honours. He stood first at his university, breaking all records in the B.A examinations. As a result of Salam’s high scores, he secured a scholarship for further studying mathematics at Cambridge University’s prestigious St John’s College. The famous Indian Civil Service examinations had been suspended because of the war and there was a fund of money that had been collected by the Prime Minister of Punjab. This money had been intended for use during the war, but there was some of it left un-used and five scholarships were created for study abroad. In 1946 he got a place in one of the boats that were full with British families who were leaving before Indian Independence
In 1949, Salam was awarded a scholarship to study a double bachelor's degree in mathematics and physics at the University of Cambridge. 
 During his career in science, Salam presented many scientific breakthroughs and innovative theories such as the Pati–Salam model, the Grand Unified Theory and research on supersymmetry. In 1950 he received the Smith’s Prize from the University of Cambridge for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to physics.
21-year-old Abdus Salam at Cambridge. — ICTP Photo Library
His time at Cambridge ended, for the time being, with a PhD at the Cavendish Laboratory at St John's. By the end of his tenure, he had made a mark in the scientific fraternity as a promising young scientist.
In 1951, after having won a number of awards and accolades, Salam was ready to move back to Pakistan. He dismissed an opportunity to spend a year at Princeton University (where Professor Albert Einstein was too!) and took up the offer to head the mathematics department at the Government College Lahore (GC).
"Professor Sirajuddin, asked him (Abdus Salam) to do something to earn his keep besides his teaching. Salam chose to look after the footballers. difficult to take the gauge of Salam’s frustration." "A more serious contretemps occurred in the Christmas Holidays of the same years. Professor Wolfgang Pauli, the 1945 Nobel laureate of physics and a friend of Salam, was visiting Bombay on the invitation of Indian science association. He sent a telegram to Salam wishing to see him and asking him if he could come to Bombay. Salam, who had been craving to talk to a peer in his field, at once left for India, and spent a week with Pauli. On his return to Lahore, he was charge sheeted for absenting himself from his station of duty without prior permission. Salam was shocked. He was used to European freedom of movement and had been part of Pakistani bureaucratic set-up for a mere three months. The principal made so much fuss about the incident that Salam feared that he might be dismissed from the education service. At this point S.M. Sharif, the director of Public instruction of the Punjab, intervened and the period of Salam’s absence was treated as leave without pay.”
In February 1953, anti-Ahmadiyya(One of the sects in Islam to which Abdus Salam belonged-considered as Non-Muslims) riots set the city of Lahore ablaze. Incidents of looting, arson attacks spread across not just Lahore but to other parts of Punjab as well. Hundreds of Ahmadis were feared to be murdered. In 1954,When the dust settled, Abdus Salam had returned to St John's College as a mathematics lecturer Salam, back at St Johns College, Cambridge.
Three years later, he accepted a professorship at Imperial College, London, where he succeeded in establishing one of the best theoretical physics groups in the world.
In 1955, Salam had his first brush with the UN as scientific secretary at the first 'Atoms for Peace' conference. He also helped set up the United Nations Advisory Committee for Science and Technology. The experience was memorable, as he narrated in an interview, years later.
In 1957, Salam joined Imperial College London, initially, as a lecturer of applied mathematics. By next 1960, he was bestowed with the responsibility of chairing the Theoretical Physics department, along with Paul Matthews.
A law passed in 1974 declared Ahmadis to be non-Muslims, and deprived them of their rights. In his own words,"I have read on social media is that I am an Ahmadi and therefore defending my own community. Of course, sometimes this is accompanied by the choicest of invectives and demands that a “Murtad” (I have read on social media is that I am an Ahmadi and therefore defending my own community. Of course, sometimes this is accompanied by the choicest of invectives and demands that a “Murtad” (an apostate) like me should be hanged.) like me should be hanged.
In 1979, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg. They made significant contributions to the electroweak unification theory.
Prize motivation: “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”
In 1980, when Salam was invited to Quaid-e-Azam University, his visit had to be cancelled since the students threatened to break his legs if he entered the premises. After this incident, Government College, his alma mater, also cancelled his invitation. From 1980 onwards, the government started to actively ignore him, and textbooks simply omitted his monumental achievements. The Zia regime did not back his bid to become Director General of UNESCO and instead put forth another candidate, even though Salam, due to his achievements as well as international fame and recognition, had much better credentials. After the Zia regime, both the Pakistan People Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) regimes also ignored him. Benazir Bhutto declined to meet him in 1989, while Nawaz Sharif omitted Salam’s name when mentioning the list of distinguished alumni of Government College during his speech at a convocation at the university in 1992.Salam died in 1996 and his body was brought back to Pakistan for burial. However, even in death, he was not spared the humiliation as his gravestone was defaced by removing the word “Muslim” on the orders of the government
Salam received the "Shri R.D. Birla Award" from the India Physics Association, signifying India's respect for his 
scientific achievements. Salam publicly acknowledged his Indian teacher, Professor Anilendra Ganguly, by dedicating his Nobel Prize to him, showcasing the strong bond between the two scientists despite their different nationalities.
Curiosity Abdus Salam
In 1979, Pakistani scientist Dr. Abdus Salam was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. His work laid the foundation of the Standard Model where he introduced Higgs bosons to the theory. The same year, he issued a request to the Indian government to help locate his teacher Professor Anilendra Ganguly, who had taught him mathematics at the Sanatan Dharma College in Lahore. After two years, Dr Salam went to meet Ganguly, who was bed-ridden by then, in Kolkata. He placed his medal into his beloved teacher’s hands and said, ​“This is your prize Sir. It’s not mine.
 Searched and illustrated by Tejinder Kamboj
                      
                                   (1940-20??)

 

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