Chancellor: Abdus
Salam is a man of three worlds, the world of theoretical physics, the
world of international co-operation, and the world of Islam. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979, for his theoretical
unification of two of the fundamental forces of nature. One of these two
is the familiar force of electromagnetism, the force which drives
electric trains and which allows telecommunication. The other is a less
familiar but equally important force, the so-called weak nuclear force
which causes radioactivity and which is also largely responsible for the
heat of the sun. It took the genius of Abdus Salam to show that these
two forces are simply different manifestations of one and the same funda-
mental force. Predictions from his theory have been abundantly verified
by experiment. So the four known fundamental forces of nature -
gravitation, strong nuclear forces, weak nuclear forces, and electro-
magnetism -have been reduced from four to three. Undoubtedly this marks
one of the leading conceptual advances of the century.
A year before his Nobel Prize, Salam was awarded the
Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London. In presenting this medal
Lord Todd, President of the Royal Society of London remarked -I quote
-"The unification of the weak and electromagnetic interactions has been
justly described as analogous to the 19th century unification of
electricity and magnetism. It is an idea of the first importance". And
Lord Todd went on to say -again I quote -" Salam has been active in
promoting scientific research in developing countries. The Institute at
Trieste, of which he is director, plays a leading role in encouraging
theoretical work in these countries".
Let me expand
slightly upon these remarks of Lord Todd. Ever since his Cambridge days,
Abdus Salam has had the passionate conviction that advanced scientific
education should be promoted throughout the Third World. By virtue of
his scientific prestige, his transparent sincerity of purpose, and the
sheer justice of his cause, he persuaded international agencies that the
Institute should be established. Facilities at Trieste were freely
provided by the Italian government, a gesture worthy of Italian
civilisation. He was the natural choice of director, a position which he
holds in parallel with the chair of theoretical physics at the Imperial
College of Science and Technology London. Since 1964 several hundreds of
promising young scientists, from diverse nations, have spent periods at
Trieste in contact with leading scientific minds, intellectually
enriching both themselves and their countries from the experience. The
incalculable benefits of Trieste will only become fully apparent during
the next century.
Underlying almost
everything Abdus Salam has done is his strong commitment to the religion
of Islam, derived from his native Pakistan. With characteristic humility
he ascribes his scientific achievements to the Islamic heritage.
Somewhere he says -I quote -" I have been much involved with symmetries.
That may come from Islam since in Islam we contemplate the universe
created by God with ideas of beauty and symmetry and harmony. The Koran
places a lot of emphasis upon natural law". However there is nothing
parochial about him. He refers with admiration to Moses Maimonides, that
great Jewish philosopher, scholar and physician who flourished within
the Islamic civilisation of the middle ages.
It would be quite out
of the question to enumerate all the high honours and distinctions
awarded to him. I shall mention just a few. He is a Foreign Member of
the National Academy of Sciences of the USA and also of USSR, a rare 'double.first'
which speaks for itself. His association with UN goes back to 1955, when
he became Scientific Secretary to the Geneva Conference on the Peaceful
Uses of Atomic Energy. More recently, at Istanbul, he made a powerful
plea to UNDP to recognise the importance of scientific development, as
distinct from technological progress, in Third World countries.
Chancellor, we are
indeed privileged to be contemporaries of so distinguished a man. I
therefore present to you: Abdus Salam, Nobel Laureate, F.R.S., Professor
of Theoretical Physics at the Imperial College of Science and
Techonology London, Director of the International Centre for Theoretical
Physics Trieste, for the award of the highest honour within your gift,
the D.Sc., (h.c.).
