In his achievements, Dr. Salam saw a certain special Providence of God. Let me quote from the transcript of one of his interviews. The questi0ns asked by Lewis Wolpert or Alison Richards are in inverted comas:
“But I am not quite sure how you got to Cambridge.”
I got to Cambridge by means of a scholarship from Small Peasants’ welfare fund which was set up by the Prime Minister of the State of Punjab at that time.
“Did you come from a peasant background?”
That’s right. Although my father was a Civil Servant, he had a small parcel of land and he qualified. So I got one of those scholarships and the interesting thing is that only five scholarships were offered, and the other four people who got them could not get university admission that year. Then came the partition of the country and the scholarships disappeared. So the entire purpose of that fund and those scholarships seemed to be to get me to Cambridge.
“Did you really think that fate was playing a hand? After all, each of these events was very much a matter of chance.”
Certainly my father, who was a deeply religious man, always said that this was a result of his prayers. He wanted his son to shine in some field. Of course, in the beginning he was thinking of me as a Civil Servant, but when I decided that I was going to do research, he felt that this was something very appropriate and encouraged me. But the whole sequence of events, my getting a scholarship at the right time, my getting to Cambridge at all at the right time, and then being interested in science, was all, he thought, very much a part of something deeper. Read further:
The featured picture is of Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahamd on your left and Dr. Abdus Salam, Nobel Laureate in physics on your right, wearing flower garlands.
Dr Abdus Salam – The ‘Mystic’ scientist
By Zainab Mahmood
Source / Courtesy: Chowk
As his father was unable to finance his studies abroad, Salam prayed fervently for a soloution. As fate would have it, Sir Chotoo Ram (revenue minister Punjab), who himself was a son of a peasant, arranged to use the funds collected for the War effort, as scholarships for bright sons of peasants to study abroad. Salam applied for this scholarship. His admission to Cambridge was no less a miracle as admissions are made a year in advance and all places were filled up. Salam applied only a few months before classes were to start and as luck would have it an Indian student withdrew from his seat at St Johns College. A highly improbable set of circumstances followed and eventually Salam not only gained admission but also a scholarship. Salam reached Cambridge, just in time for the term to start, carrying a steel trunk full of books and few personal effects.
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While at Imperial, he had the privilege of interacting with great minds, such as Bertrand Russell, Einstein, Openheimer, and Wolfgang Pauli to name a few. During a discussion, once, Russell was discussing how he was vehemently opposed to Gods existence, to which Salam responded by saying, “without belief in God man is prone to many basic defects and history shows that those who do believe in God are able to sacrifice more and do better for the mankind in comparison to non-believers”.
In his first meeting with Einstein, their whole discussion was about religion and Dr Salam explained to him the Islamic concept of Tauheed. Einstein did not dismiss Salam as a religious bigot and they developed a close friendship. Salam was able to hold his own not only in the world of science, but he also commanded respect from colleagues and students due to his enormous bank of knowledge on all other fields of study.
Dr Salam may have been acknowledged for his scientific brilliance but his lesser known Sufi nature and spirituality is what distinguished him from other great achievers. He began his first ever lecture at Imperial College by recitation of a quranic verse that he would continue to quote at numerous important occasions in his life. His student Professor Duff recalls that his mesmerising lectures were so unique that the students would find themselves entranced by the depth of Dr Salam’s knowledge and expression “there was always an element of eastern mysticism in his ideas that left you wondering how to fathom his genius”. Dr Salam would explain his scientific endeavours were inspired by mythological concepts of Ptolemy, Bruno and Galileo who dared to question and discover the mechanisms of the universe. He pointed out that a scientist has many facets, such as that of a Sufi, an artist and explorer, and he relies on such traditions to advance his scientific knowledge.
http://www.chowk.com/Views/Science/Dr-Abdus-Salam-The-Mystic-scientist
Dear All,
As you know, science & technology remain neglected in Pakistan; both at government and public level. Even, when it comes to development or criticism, there was no media to address the issues. The news media plays a critical role as one of the primary means through which scientific and technological issues are brought to the attention of the general public. The reality of science for most people is what they experience through mass media channels. Good reporting allows people to evaluate science policy issues and make rational personal choices; poor reporting can mislead a public that is increasingly affected by science. The need for the science and technology newspaper took place and the concept of weekly (future’s daily) newspaper “Technology Times” evolve.
At Technology Times we are targeting to create awareness of science and technology in Pakistan. We believe that knowledge (and particularly scientific and technological knowledge), had become the primary force propelling both national economic well-being and global economics. And this can be achieved through awareness of masses.
The objectives of Weekly “Technology Times” are: (i) to disseminate information to masses, (ii) projection of Pakistani scientists and technocrats, (iii) the most important; development of university-industry synergy in Pakistan, as we believe without university-industry synergy we can not move forward.
Technology Times was launched on 4th January, 2010 and focused on issues related to agriculture, climate change and environment, renewable energy, science education, and info-communication technology.
As one of our objective at Weekly Technology Times is to promote Pakistani scientists and technocrats; last year we published a special edition on the birth anniversary of Dr Abdus Salam i.e. 29th January (PDF attached). We are doing the same activity for this year to pay tribute to this Pakistani Einstein.
This special edition will consist of 4 pages, highlighting the achievements of Dr Mohammad Abdus Salam, his biography, and specially his vision to promote science culture and science education in Pakistan. This special edition will be the most effective way of spreading the message of Dr Abdus Salam across a large population.
With this background; I request to everyone for writing articles about Dr Salam (approximate 900 words).
Your contribution to publish this Special Edition will be highly appreciated. I apology that the time is short; please take early action on this very important matter and send your contribution by 27th January, 2013.
Best regards,
—
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