ABDUS SALAM

Nobel Laureate in Physics

Professor Abdus Salam has been one of the the 20th century's greatest exponents of physics. Born in Jhang, Pakistan, in 1926, he was educated at Panjab University, St. John's College, Cambridge and Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1952. He then returned to Pakistan, where he served as Professor at Government College, Lahore and Panjab University. He returned to Cambridge to take up the position of Lecturer. In 1957 he was appointed Full Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College. Fired by his own unhappiness at having had to leave his own country, he determined to find a way of making it possible for those like him to continue working for their own communities while still having opportunities to remain first-rate scientists. It was thus in 1960 that he conceived the idea of setting up an International Centre for Theoretical Physics with funds from the international community.

Professor Salam is famous for that electroweak theory which is the mathematical and conceptual synthesis of the electromagnetic and weak interactions - the latest stage reached until now on the path towards the unification of the fundamental forces of nature. With this motivation, Professor Salam received the Nobel Prize for physics together with the Americans Steven Weinberg and Sheldon Glashow in 1979. The validity of the theory was ascertained in the following years through experiments carried out at the superprotosynchrotron facility at CERN in Geneva which led to the discovery of the W and Z particles. Salam's electroweak theory is still the core of the 'standard model' of high energy physics.

Professor Abdus Salam was the Director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, from 1964 to December 1993. Professor Salam became a widely known and charismatic figure in international scientific and political milieus. He travelled extensively throughout the world and, in his discussions with heads of state and governments, he was able, in a convincing manner, to put forward his views regarding the paramount importance of supporting science in their own countries for the betterment of humanity. His pursuit of a science for peace capable of filling the gap between the North and South of the planet shall remain as an example for those who endeavour to achieve the cultural and social development of the Third World. Thanks to Professor Salam, the ICTP has been a major forum for the international scientific community and a model for similar establishments. He died in Oxford on 21 November 1996.