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Cosmic Anger: Abdus Salam - The First Muslim Nobel Scientist
This book presents a biography of Abdus Salam, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for Science (Physics 1979), who was nevertheless excommunicated and branded as a heretic in his own country. His achievements are often overlooked, even besmirched. Realizing that the whole world had to be his stage, he pioneered the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, a vital focus of Third World science which remains as his monument. A staunch Muslim, he was ashamed of the decline of science in the heritage of Islam, and struggled doggedly to restore it to its former glory. Undermined by his excommunication, these valiant efforts were doomed.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published April 24, 2008
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August 10, 2016
Cosmic Anger: Abdus Salam – The First Muslim Nobel Scientist by Gordon Fraser
Overview
Abdus Salam was a theoretical physicist who found similarities between electromagnetism and the force that causes radioactivity. The author of this biography was a student of Abdus Salam. Much of the appeal of the book is its wide focus, which includes the history of Punjab and of post-World War II physics.
An Ahmadi of the Punjab
Abdus Salam was born in Punjab, before partition. Punjab means “five rivers” in Persian (Farsi). For much of its history, Persian was the language of the Punjabi government. Punjabi was Abdus Salam’s first language. Abdus Salam was a practicing Muslim. Abdus Salam was a member of the Ahmadi minority sect of Islam. Ahmadis differ in being better educated than the average Pakistani.The Ahmadi sect was started by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who favored reason over force. In Pakistan Ahmadis are called Qadianis, after the hometown of their founder. When India was partitioned in 1947, the Sikhs and Hindus moved to the Indian side of the border, but the Ahmadis stayed in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the original leader of Pakistan, created a secular nation that was tolerant of all religions, the way India still is today. When Pakistan gradually became more fundamentalist over the succeeding decades, the Ahmadis were declared not to be true Muslims, and were persecuted.
Cambridge University
Abdus Salam studied physics at Cambridge University in England. Paul Dirac was one of his teachers and heroes. Dirac integrated quantum mechanics with special relativity, predicted the existence of the positron, and also made major contributions to mathematics. Abdus Salam did most of his research in Europe.
Electromagnetism and Radioactivity
Abdus Salam worked in several parts of physics, but his most important work was in finding similarities between electromagnetism and radioactivity. Most physicists during this time, the 1960s, were studying what holds the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus, the strong nuclear force. The study of radioactivity, also called the weak nuclear force, was somewhat of a backwater of physics. In radioactivity, a neutron can turn into a proton. In the process, an electron (beta ray), a photon (gamma ray), and an antineutrino are created and leave the nucleus of the atom. Electromagnetism, whose nature had become understood during the late 19th and early 20th century, involves the photon particle of light. What Abdus Salam and other physicists in this field did was to predict that there existed a particle of the weak nuclear force that was analogous to the photon of electromagnetism. In fact, their theory, which was called electroweak unification, predicted that there were three such particles: one positively charged, one negatively charged, and one uncharged (neutral). Additionally, each of these three particles had mass, unlike the photon, which had no mass. The official name of these massive analogs of the photon was “weak current”. It was the third particle, the uncharged (neutral) one that was the most unexpected, and so the prediction of its existence became the most radical prediction of the theory. If such a radical prediction was proven by experiment, this would be strong evidence that the electroweak unification theory was true. The three physicists who made the most progress in this field during the 1960s were Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam. Sheldon Glashow did the early work, and Weinberg and Abdus Salam independently provided the final piece of the puzzle, the neutral weak current. During the 1970s experiments with particle accelerators found neutral weak currents and therefore proved that the electroweak unification theory was correct, and all three shared in a Nobel Prize in Physics.
Third-World Science
Abdus Salam was active in promoting careers in science for people born in Third World and Muslim countries. He helped establish a scientific research center for young scientists from Third World countries. This center was located in in Trieste, Italy, near the border with Slovenia. Trieste is famous for its beautiful Miramare castle. The Trieste research center was created by the United Nations agency UNESCO. When the antisemitic organization UNESCO banished Israel, the United States withdrew its support from UNESCO and the Trieste research center.
Ingratitude
Abdus Salam had little success in promoting scientific research in his home country of Pakistan. Abdus Salam was disrespected in his native Pakistan, because he was Ahmadi. Abdus Salam hoped to make Islam and science compatible. But Islam has lost interest in science, except to produce nuclear weapons.
Overview
Abdus Salam was a theoretical physicist who found similarities between electromagnetism and the force that causes radioactivity. The author of this biography was a student of Abdus Salam. Much of the appeal of the book is its wide focus, which includes the history of Punjab and of post-World War II physics.
An Ahmadi of the Punjab
Abdus Salam was born in Punjab, before partition. Punjab means “five rivers” in Persian (Farsi). For much of its history, Persian was the language of the Punjabi government. Punjabi was Abdus Salam’s first language. Abdus Salam was a practicing Muslim. Abdus Salam was a member of the Ahmadi minority sect of Islam. Ahmadis differ in being better educated than the average Pakistani.The Ahmadi sect was started by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who favored reason over force. In Pakistan Ahmadis are called Qadianis, after the hometown of their founder. When India was partitioned in 1947, the Sikhs and Hindus moved to the Indian side of the border, but the Ahmadis stayed in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the original leader of Pakistan, created a secular nation that was tolerant of all religions, the way India still is today. When Pakistan gradually became more fundamentalist over the succeeding decades, the Ahmadis were declared not to be true Muslims, and were persecuted.
Cambridge University
Abdus Salam studied physics at Cambridge University in England. Paul Dirac was one of his teachers and heroes. Dirac integrated quantum mechanics with special relativity, predicted the existence of the positron, and also made major contributions to mathematics. Abdus Salam did most of his research in Europe.
Electromagnetism and Radioactivity
Abdus Salam worked in several parts of physics, but his most important work was in finding similarities between electromagnetism and radioactivity. Most physicists during this time, the 1960s, were studying what holds the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus, the strong nuclear force. The study of radioactivity, also called the weak nuclear force, was somewhat of a backwater of physics. In radioactivity, a neutron can turn into a proton. In the process, an electron (beta ray), a photon (gamma ray), and an antineutrino are created and leave the nucleus of the atom. Electromagnetism, whose nature had become understood during the late 19th and early 20th century, involves the photon particle of light. What Abdus Salam and other physicists in this field did was to predict that there existed a particle of the weak nuclear force that was analogous to the photon of electromagnetism. In fact, their theory, which was called electroweak unification, predicted that there were three such particles: one positively charged, one negatively charged, and one uncharged (neutral). Additionally, each of these three particles had mass, unlike the photon, which had no mass. The official name of these massive analogs of the photon was “weak current”. It was the third particle, the uncharged (neutral) one that was the most unexpected, and so the prediction of its existence became the most radical prediction of the theory. If such a radical prediction was proven by experiment, this would be strong evidence that the electroweak unification theory was true. The three physicists who made the most progress in this field during the 1960s were Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam. Sheldon Glashow did the early work, and Weinberg and Abdus Salam independently provided the final piece of the puzzle, the neutral weak current. During the 1970s experiments with particle accelerators found neutral weak currents and therefore proved that the electroweak unification theory was correct, and all three shared in a Nobel Prize in Physics.
Third-World Science
Abdus Salam was active in promoting careers in science for people born in Third World and Muslim countries. He helped establish a scientific research center for young scientists from Third World countries. This center was located in in Trieste, Italy, near the border with Slovenia. Trieste is famous for its beautiful Miramare castle. The Trieste research center was created by the United Nations agency UNESCO. When the antisemitic organization UNESCO banished Israel, the United States withdrew its support from UNESCO and the Trieste research center.
Ingratitude
Abdus Salam had little success in promoting scientific research in his home country of Pakistan. Abdus Salam was disrespected in his native Pakistan, because he was Ahmadi. Abdus Salam hoped to make Islam and science compatible. But Islam has lost interest in science, except to produce nuclear weapons.
Read
October 7, 2013An excellent and unusual biography of an extraordinary man, the physicist Abdus Salam, who started life in the Punjab, won scholarships to study in Cambridge and went on to become one of the principal architects of the present Standard Model of fundamental interactions, for which he won the Nobel Prize. The book is also a short history of the Punjab and has a lot to say about Islam, particularly as it affected the life of Abdus Salam who remained a devoted Muslim throughout his life. I had not realised the extent of his political work and efforts to elevate science in the developing world. Unfortunately he was himself a victim of religious bigotry. I felt a certain personal connection, having been taught Hamiltonian mechanics by Nicholas Kemmer, Salam's mentor. Furthermore, the author, Gordon Fraser, was a friend of mine who died in January. I wish I had read this sooner.
February 5, 2016
Gives an idea of who Abdus Salam was and what his contributions were to theoretical physics and also some cultural and religious background.
February 1, 2017
A legendary story brilliantly told. Though I had to read a lot about electroweak theory by myself to understand some chapters. :D
Always one of my heroes.
#MyHeroes
Always one of my heroes.
#MyHeroes
August 6, 2015
The subject needs no introduction; extremely well-read author; title incomparable.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews