MUMBAI: For the first time in recent years, Mumbai hosted an event on Sunday to honour a Pakistani scientist. The occasion was the birth centenary of Nobel laureate Abdus Salam and the event was an online lecture by eminent nuclear physicist Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, who spoke from Islamabad.The presentation, “The Truth About Abdus Salam: Science, Faith moved to and the Atom Bomb,’’ was organised by the Mumbai sub-regional council of the Indian Association of Physics Teachers. The audience comprised mainly physics teachers from different Mumbai colleges and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). The interaction comes ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Civilisational Dialogue in Delhi in late Nov at which the federal Pakistani minister for climate change is expected to be present.Hoodbhoy, who described Salam as an ambassador for goodwill between India and Pakistan, stressed that while he was glad that the celebrated scientist was being recognised in India, it was not the same case in Pakistan as he belonged to the Ahmadiyya sect. “This is sad because there is no real role model for the youth of Pakistan right now,” he said.
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Hoodbhoy said Salam had a lot of interactions with Indian scientists and left behind a rich legacy. “Salam was a major figure in physics in the 20th century along with C.V. Raman and Jagdishchandra Bose,’’ he said.Hoodbhoy, a decorated scientist himself – a recipient of the Fulbright award in 1998 and the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 2001 – said Salam played a key role in the initial years of research under former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Pakistan began work to develop nuclear weapons.’’