ISLAMABAD: Nobel laureate and physicist Abdul Salam, 70, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, died in London early Thursday.

Born in January 1926 in Jhang, Professor Salam was awarded the Nobel prize from physics in 1979. He was Pakistan’s only Nobel laureate.

President Farooq Ahmed Leghari said his death left “a vacuum” which would “not be filled for a long time to come.”

He brought “fame and recognition to his motherland in the scientific community of the world and put Pakistan firmly on the world’s science map,” Leghari said.

Salam was awarded honorary doctrates by as many as 36 universities around the world for his work and was Pakistan’s ambassador at large. – AFP

Obituary on page 5.

Prof Abdul Salam no more with us

From Our Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s most illustrious son world-renowned scientist Nobel Laureate Professor Abdul Salam breathed his last at his residence in Oxford on Thursday morning (at 8:15 Pakistan Standard Time) after protracted illness. He was 70. He was suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters.

Professor Salam was one of the most celebrated scientists of this century who influenced our understanding of nature in a very profound way. Salam was born on January 29, 1926, in Jhang. He had a meteoric rise in his life and became instantly famous in the world of Physics with his Ph D work at Cambridge, England. After serving for three years at the Government College Lahore and Punjab University, he became Lecturer at Cambridge in 1954 at the age of 28. At the age of 31, he became full professor at the Imperial College London in 1957. He was the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society at the age of 33.

Dr G Murtaza, Professor of Physics and Dean Faculty of Natural Sciences, Quaid-e-Azam University, says Professor Abdul Salam received serveral prestigious awards and honors including the Nobel Prize of the year 1979. For his contributions towards peace and promotion of international science collaboration, he received the Atoms for Peace Medal and Award. He became Fellow/Member of more the 30 academies/societies and was awarded D Sc Honoris Causa by more than 40 universities of the world. Salam has been not only a great scientist, but he was also a sage who was intensely aware of the social functions of science. He pursued science both for its own sake and as an artist as well as an instrument for development.