مسلمانوں کا نیوٹن ۔ ڈاکٹر عبدالسلام

مسلمانوں کا نیوٹن ۔ ڈاکٹر عبدالسلام — Page 414

Illustrated Weekly of India 404 February 1, 1981 A Genius Called Abdus Salam By Dr۔V۔S۔Venkatavaradan Prof۔Salam visited India for 21 days and captured the public imagination۔Following interview gives a glimpse into the creative mind of a great scientist۔This is a partial text of the interview۔Q: A: When did you decide to become theoretical physicist? When I went to Cambridge; it was my idea to get a tripos۔Until 1948 I did mathematics۔I had by then already listened to the lectures of Dirac and Pauli and I drifted more and more towards physics۔In 1948 when I had finished my mathematics course, I still had one year's scholarship on and I had almost decided to do physics۔Fred Hoyle, my supervisor, said to me that if I wanted to become a physicist I must do experimental course; otherwise I wouldn't ever be able to look a physicist in the eye۔You follow me? He asked۔‘In order to be able to do well in your future life۔Physics is experiment, not theory۔Science is experiment۔You Indians are very good at theory۔You must even if it kills you, take this last year for experimental physics۔I told Fred Hoyle, Sir, for the last four or five years I haven't done an experiment۔Never mind, he said, you must do the experimental course۔I finished the two years course in one year۔Q: A: At Princeton did you work with Einstein? Einstein was out of bounds for us, but still I had a long chat with him۔From Princeton I returned to Lahore۔It was at this time that I visited Bombay۔Pauli was also in the city then۔I was the only theoretical physicist in Pakistan at that time۔I therefore felt lonely- theoretical physicist has got to be able to talk, to discuss, to shout if need be۔When Pauli came to Bombay he sent me a cable saying he was alone and wanted to me to come and talk to him۔So I took a plane from Karachi and a taxi to his hotel۔I went up to his room and knocked۔He told me to come in and without a word of greeting said; Schwinger is wrong, I have proof for that۔What was the feeling when you learnt that you had been chosen for the Nobel award? Q: A: I think one should realize that prizes are not something, which you can merit for۔They are God's gift۔(According to New York Times he is reported to have said: my first reaction, of course, is the greatest gratitude to Allah who has guided our thoughts jointly in the way the truth lies in finding out the laws of nature)۔Q: A: Where were you when the prize was announced? I was in London۔It was at 12 O'clock that I received a telephone call۔The director general of IAEA, Dr Eckland, happened to be a Swede and he himself was a member of the Academy۔But he was not going to tell me about my