Abdus Salam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)ISLAMABAD: The pioneering work of Abdus salam, Pakistan's only Nobel laureate , helped lead to the apparent discovery of the subatomic "God particle" last week. But the late physicist is no hero at home, where his name has been stricken from school textbooks. Praise within Pakistan for Salam, who also guided the early stages of the country's nuclear programme, faded decades ago as Muslim fundamentalists gained power. He belonged to the Ahmadi sect, which has been persecuted by the government and targeted by Taliban militants who view its members as heretics. Their plight - along with that of Pakistan's other religious minorities, such as Shias, Christians and Hindus - has deepened in recent years as hardline interpretations of Islam have gained ground and militants have stepped up attacks against groups they oppose. Most Pakistanis are Sunnis.
Salam, a child prodigy born in 1926 in what was to become Pakistan after the partition of British-controlled India, won more than a dozen international prizes and honours. In 1979, he was co-winner of the Nobel prize for his work on the so-called Standard Model of particle physics, which theorizes how fundamental forces govern the overall dynamics of the universe.
He died in 1996. Salam and Steven Weinberg, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize, independently predicted the existence of a subatomic particle now called the Higgs Boson , said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a physicist who once worked with Salam.
Edited By Cen Fox Post Team
