Hello, and welcome to the Physics World Weekly
Podcast. I'm Hamish Johnston.
In this episode, we explore the extraordinary life
of Abdus Salam,
who shared the 1979
Nobel Prize for Physics.
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A pioneer of modern physics who shaped the
way that we look at the universe.
That's Abdus Salam. In
1979,
he shared the Physics Nobel Prize with
Sheldon Glashow
and Steven Weinberg
for their work on the unification
of the weak and electromagnetic
interactions.
Salam was born in 1926
in the Punjab province of British India.
In 1947,
Punjab was split between the newly independent Pakistan
and India.
And Salam
became a citizen
of Pakistan.
By then, he had won a scholarship to
attend the University of Cambridge.
And in 1949,
Salaam earned a BA degree with double 1st
class honors in mathematics
and physics.
He stayed at Cambridge to do a PhD
on Quantum
Electrodynamics,
which set the scene for his later
Nobel Prize winning work.
After a brief stint in Pakistan,
he returned to the UK,
and he spent much of his career at
Imperial College London.
And now the university is gearing up to
celebrate the centenary
of his birth on the 29th January
2026.
Here is Physics World's Mateen Durrani in conversation
with Claudia Durham and Ian Walmsley,
2 physicists
at Imperial College who were involved
in organizing the celebrations.
Abdus Salam was one of the greatest theoretical
physicists of the 20th century,
and he was the only scientist from Pakistan
to ever win a Nobel Prize sharing it
with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg
for unifying the electromagnetic and weak forces.
And for many years, he was at Imperial
College in London and I'm delighted to be
joined by 2 people from the college
who are helping celebrate Salam's legacy. It's Clouder
de Arame who's a theorist at Imperial and
Ian Walmsley, Provost of the College. Welcome to
you both.
Hi. Thank you. Hello. Thank you. Thanks for
joining us. So Claudia,
let's start with the basics for people who
have forgotten who Abdulsalam was. Do you want
to remind us about,
who he was and his background and, you
know, the contributions he made to physics?
Yes, absolutely. And you already introduced him a
little bit. But,
I think it's fair to say that we
can consider Professor Abdus Salam
as really one of the founders of modern
physics, of the way we think about, modern
physics today.
He one of the major things he did
is pioneering the study of symmetries and unification.
And that helped to contribute in the formulation
of the standard model of particle physics, where
the notion of symmetries is extremely important. It's
foundational.
And there's perhaps a little bit of a
similarity in his way he's thinking of using
symmetries
to building the architecture
of the fundamental constituents of matter and the
fundamental forces of nature
with perhaps
the culture in which was,
growing of Pakistan
and the beautiful
symmetry in the architecture itself.
And one of the key physics aspects of
what he did,
was in
1967.
He incorporated the Higgs mechanism,
which was actually co discovered as well by
one of his imperial colleague,
Professor Tom Kibbling.
And so he incorporated the Higgs mechanism
into electroweak unification
theory.
And this corresponds to unification
of electromagnetism
and the weak force. And that is,
has sort of changed the way we see
the world in realizing that,
how important the notion of symmetry are, but
also how,
some different some forces which may appear as
being different, actually a linked, unified through the
same
framework. So as you mentioned, this led him
this breakthrough led him to the Nobel Prize
of Physics
in 1979,
with Weinberg and Glashow. And that was the
first Nobel Prize, the only Nobel Prize for
Pakistan.
It's actually making him the first
Nobel Prize in science from an Islamic country,
and actually the latest Nobel Prize, at Imperial.
So we're very proud of him.
You mentioned his connections with Imperial. So, you
know, he grew up, he was born in
British India, and then he studied after in
Pakistan in his student years. Then he came
to Cambridge, but of course, as you say,
he had
a long standing
contribution and links with Imperial, didn't he? That's
right. So after that, he studied,
in Cambridge. And then, for a while, he
went back to Pakistan, but he realized that,
the scientific,
opportunities there were were more limited. So he
went back to Cambridge for a while, but
then he was very quickly appointed as a
professor
of applied mathematics first at Imperial
in 1957.
And that made him the first Asian
academic to hold a professorship at any UK
university.
And then he actually stayed at Imperial,
he then moved to to physics.
But he stayed at Imperial for his whole
career. So for 40 years,
He retained his position at Imperial throughout his
life, and he really considered Imperial to be
his scientific home all the way, to the
very end.
And at Imperial, he
was really foundational
there as well. He founded the theoretical physics
group, and he worked
with quantum electromagnetics
and quantum field theory.
And so he has developed
the work,
that led you to the breakthrough and the
Nobel Prize.
But he continued throughout his career at Imperial
to do foundational work on the renormalization,
electroweak theory, grand unification,
supersymmetry,
etcetera,
and leading to,
the centers of research in fundamental physics, which
was really
leading,
leading the world,
leading the state of the art in those
aspects.
There's actually many of his students,
like Professor Michael Duff and Ray Vivers,
had incredible
discoveries, incredible impact in physics and paved the
way for the way we do quantum theory
today still.
And of course, he was a sort of
incredible figure who also wanted to help
scientists from other parts of the country that
of the world, in fact, who perhaps didn't
have the opportunities that many people in the
West did. And he was pivotal in well,
he did set up the International Center For
Theoretical Physics in Trieste, didn't he?
Absolutely. Yeah. And you can see that in
in many levels in how he
thought about science, not only the unification in
science itself, but unification
in using science as a unification, as a
unifying force in some sense.
And even in setting up the theoretical physics
group at Imperial, that was very much his
perspective
in using it as a center so that,
people from all over the world could come
and discuss together. This seems something,
which is kind of, we're used to,
today. But at the time, that was kind
of
foundational as well
in setting up a center
where, it was very much in driving,
collaborations between people from different parts of the
world. But yeah, Ed Salaam wasn't an incredible
scientist,
per se, but he was an incredible,
really an incredible human being and eager to
champion
diversity and opening new opportunities in science and
recognizing that
doing science in a diverse way is for
is for the best of science itself and
for the best of humanity.
So he was, I would say he was
ahead of his time in realizing the unifying
power of science
and the ability to foster it,
throughout the world. So that is, to some
extent, one led the initiative,
including
founding ICTP, which is the UNESCO
International Center For Theoretical Physics.
He founded it in 1964.
And the goal of ICTP
was,
sort of combat some of the issues related
to our relations,
that some people in some part of the
world were facing,
some lack of resources,
particularly that some people in the global south
were facing with.
And that had a huge impact.
It continues to do so.
So today, ICTP is actually a network of
5 institutions
spread over 4 continents
devoted to advancing
international collaboration
and scientific expertise
to the non Western world.
And and he has, as I said, he
has been foundational for many, many scientists for
generations now.
It hosts around 6,000 scientists every years, and
50% of them are from global cells.
And and and we're very eager to make
connections with with those as well.
And then when Salaam died in 1996, and
he had quite a sort of the last
few years were quite difficult for him. He
had a very difficult illness. But, you're probably
too young to remember him, Claudia. But, Ian,
I think, you
you can share some of the stories of
what you know about his life.
Yes.
I I,
being considerably older than Claudia,
had the privilege
of meeting him when I was an undergraduate
here in the Physics department. And,
certainly he was he was a present figure
then even to 1st year undergraduates
and,
in the sort of initial
gathering of the freshman class, a number of
the senior
academics were there and he gave a sort
of short talk
on his work and on the work of
the theoretical physics group as a whole and
the work of the department.
And it's that kind of thing, not that
I understood
much of it at all at that point,
but it's the kind of presence and inspiration
that I think is really important for,
motivating young people to think about these questions
and take on these hard problems
and just to get get a sense of
the
kind of problems he was tackling and the
enthusiasm,
that he went about that was, was was
really fantastic for for a young student. So
that must have been, what, in the mid
eighties was that? Ida must have already won
his I wish it was. That was
he came here in 1977
that end, so, yeah, a little before that.
A little before that. Had he won his
Nobel Prize when do you have that lecture
from him? He won it, when I was
a second year student. So he was, you
know, there was a lot of big celebrations
and, parties in the department
on that occasion. And as Claudio has already
noted, there were there were a number, aside
from him at that time, there were a
number of other luminaries like Tom Kibble around,
who'd,
made lots of important contributions. So that group
was really
celebrated, I think, as probably
the leading theoretical particle group in the UK
and among the best in the world.
And he really set that up and it
was fantastic for the department to have that
real, real boost of somebody of that caliber
in its list.
And Claudio, to come back to you, it's,
you know, Salam was born in 1926, so
we're coming up to his centenary of his
birth. And I know you've got quite a
few activities,
planned for that celebration. Do you want to
tell us about some of them?
Yeah. So we already been having quite a
few activities,
initiatives been set up,
building up to his 100 year
birthday.
We had a 98
year birthday celebration just a few months ago,
here in the campus of, Imperial College in
South Kensington.
So that the 29th January,
that's his birthday.
This year,
this led to a big event on campus
where we celebrated
his, his legacy,
very much the past legacy, but also moving
into the future and seeing how we can
use this to promote
and celebrate the excellence in fundamental science, but
also the excellencies
in bridging,
with,
with engaging with the Global South and engaging
with other opportunities.
So what has already happened here on campus
is, for instance, there's been a renaming of
the Imperial Central Library to the Abu Salam
Libraries. And now it is the Abu Salam
Library
with an official plaque and billing
that,
many people from the college, including Ian, were
present too.
There was a big,
in addition to this unveiling, there was a
public talk featuring,
various
fundamental physics, theoretical physics, physicists,
including the ICTP director, Professor
Atisha Dabodkar
and Professor Brian Cox.
We probably know,
He's been recognized
as a face of science.
So we had a big, big event.
It was very much
as a testament of Salam's legacy
and ensuring how
the strength
of the science itself, but also in showing
how
himself as a figure
allows us to engage with people. And we
had an outreach event here on campus,
which was an exhibition
featuring some of the articles from SALAM Life
itself.
So
using that to engage with school children from
all around London.
So on the day there were over 4,000
people
that have registered for the lecture. There were
thousands of people on campus
from young children to all the all the
people just eager to learn more about salaam
and what it means,
or to learn about,
how we can move forward with his, with
his legacy.
And a lot of those aspects are actually
now being exported online. So the exhibition was
concretely
here on campus with
real, real things on campus. But now it's,
you can find it online.
You can find online as well some
essay. There was an essay contest being made
with, school children from Pakistan,
in seeing how Salaam
has inspired them. And it is very nice
to see how,
young children see,
the trajectory, the journey that has gone, that
Salaam has gone through, and realize that they
can connect with art, and then themselves can
realize this is something they can do. This
is something possible.
So we had 100 of essays being submitted
by school children from Pakistan.
And we selected a few of them, and
those are now, they've been featured all the
day, and now they you can find them
online.
We also had a special documentary
made, in salam, which you can find online.
But this is, as you say, very much,
building up to
how we can move forward to, to engage
even, even, even further.
I think one thing that was clear through
this event, through building up to this event
already in January
and seeing the engagement of people,
is how much people can how much his
life story and what he has done resonate
with people at every level. Absolutely at every
level.
No matter your background, no matter whether you
are a scientist per se or not, I
think it does awaken,
the scientist in all of us in his
way. He connects with people.
But now we really want to to build
some of that.
And we want to build some of those
initiatives
and understand much more
fundamental curiosity driven.
Fundamental research is,
also as a way to
outward looking towards making connection with the non
West Global Global South.
So we're very much looking forward to,
even bigger type of celebration for for his
100th birthday.
That would be on January 29th, 2026.
And reach a new level of engagement,
with with society, with the global south.
And I don't know if,
if Ian,
you want to say
anything else? Yeah. I was gonna say, Ian,
you know, how how well known do you
think Salam is to the wider population?
Because there was always that concern in Pakistan
because of his particular
religious affiliation that he had, that the country
sort of wouldn't say disowned him, but they
didn't, make as much as they might have
done if he had been belonged to the
2 main sort of Islamic sects that, are
at the moment. Do do you think he's
a well known figure? And, you know, where
would you place him in the sort of
pantheon of great physicists?
Let's see. Maybe those are 2 slightly different
questions.
Is he well known
in the physics community globally? Absolutely.
Is he well known
in the general public in Britain as one
of the UK's,
adopted,
great scientists?
Probably not. I think he is well
regarded and known across the Muslim community
more than he is across the general population.
And I think that's a shame because his
skills as a pedagogue and his concern
for people as a whole, and
science as a motivating force for that, are
really important messages, and things that he really
championed, as, as Claudia said.
On the ranking of great physicists,
I'd hate to
try and speculate there, but clearly, no, he's
one of the superstars who has
made a real difference to the field.
And, it was really
great to see,
to have the opportunity for us to name
a building after him, especially the library where
students
are congregating all the time.
And,
some of the great things have been
there's
a piece in the library right on the
wall that describes a little bit about him
and has a great picture of him.
And,
often families will go in because you can
see it without entering the library and families
will go in and
take their children and show that picture and
read the narrative.
And I think it's,
it's the kind of thing that is, that
will no doubt spread his fame a bit
more. So I think that's really, really important.
Lovely. Well, I wish you all success with
the, initiatives over the next year and a
half before his, centenary of his birth. Claudia,
is there a central place that people can
go to to find out more? I guess
the Imperial College website would be a good
place to start.
That's
right.
So there's an Empire College website,
one which is dedicated to salon. It's
quite, quite easy to find. And then from
there, there will be links to the,
the virtual exhibition,
that where you can learn much more about
his life,
from every aspect.
And there's also links to,
the videos we have made and testimonies.
There's also
the speeches,
some of the speeches that were made for
the event,
and the essays from the schoolchildren. So so
that's why you're seeing links from all sorts
of, different aspects
of the Salamis in life,
from the work perspective and from the connection
perspective. Yeah.
Lovely. Well, thanks so much for joining us
on the podcast, Ian and Claudia. Great to
hear from you. Thank you very much. Thank
you. Thank you.
That was Claudia Duram and Ian Walmsley in
conversation
with Matin Durrani.
And there's much more about Abdus Salam on
the Physics World website.
A good place to start is Matin's review
of the 2018
film,
Abdus Salam,
which was directed
by Anand
Kamalikar.
It explores
Salaam's faith as an Ahmadi,
a minority
Muslim movement that has suffered persecution
in Pakistan.
To read that
review, just look for the headline,
Abdus Salam
back in the spotlight.
I'm afraid that's all the time we have
for this week's podcast. Thanks to Ian Walmsley,
Claudia Duram, and Mateen Durrani for joining me
today. And a special thanks to our producer,
Fred Ailes.
We'll be back again next week with a
chat about how quantum
sensors are
revolutionizing
our understanding
of brain development.
But until then, have you ever wondered if
humans could run on water?
Find out by listening to the latest episode
of the Physics World Stories podcast
which is inspired by basilisk
lizards
and their ability to run upright across water
to escape predators.
The podcast features Nicole Sharp, who is an
engineer and science communicator
specializing
in fluid dynamics.
She chats with Andrew Glester
about how the lizards manage to stay afloat
while dashing across water,
and explains how water running could be a
sport for humans,
but not here on earth.
Nicole also talks about her passion for fluid
dynamics,
and her fascination
for the roles that instabilities
play in the rich behavior
of fluid systems.
You can listen to that episode on the
Physics World website
or at your favorite podcast provider.
Just look for the headline, Could Humans Run
on Water?