مسلمانوں کا نیوٹن ۔ ڈاکٹر عبدالسلام — Page 399
389 In this Salam was almost messianic۔Like the prophets of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, whose lives he tried to emulate, Salam felt duty-bound to complete his mission۔He was tremendously impatient and experienced much frustration when politicians failed to share his zeal and enthusiasm every time he presented them with another of his schemes for science, technology, or development۔Salam was particularly passionate about his native Pakistan, and desperately wanted to 'make a difference' to the lives of ordinary people۔Yet in Pakistan he remains a deeply controversial figure, and his passion was not reciprocated۔Some cannot comprehend why he never made Pakistan his home۔Others cast a critical eye over his record of achievement as the president's chief scientist for 14 years until 1974۔And controversy will never cease about his Ahmadiyya religious faith, whose adherents are subject to much discrimination and persecution in Pakistan۔Ahmadis differ from Muslims۔They believe their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a civil servant in 19th century British India, was the reincarnation of Christ, the promised messiah۔This is considered heresy in orthodox Islam, Salam was born on 29th January, but the year and place of birth are in dispute۔Official documents and his biographer Singh say Salam was born in the Jhang district in 1926۔But Salam's sister told a Pakistani newspaper that he was born in 1927, and in the neighboring district of Sahiwal, not Jhang۔Salam's six brothers and two sisters lived with their parents in a one-room tenement supported by wooden beams۔A couple of rope beds were at either end, with a table and some stools in the middle for mealtimes۔Salam had to learn to shut out these impoverished conditions to focus on his studies۔He quickly developed into 'hot-house' child, and, age six, went straight into the third year of primary school۔He began his 'advanced level' examinations, high school diplomas usually taken when a student is at least 16 years old, at the astonishingly early age of 12۔Science lesson Recalling his schooldays during the Dirac memorial lecture at Cambridge in 1988, Salam remembered a science lesson on the forces of nature۔"Our teacher spoke of gravitational force۔Of course gravity was well known and Newton's name had penetrated even to a place like Jhang۔Our teacher then spoke of magnetism, and showed us a magnet۔Then he said, 'electricity', ah, that is a force which does not live in Jhang, it only lives in the capital city of this province, Lahore, 100 miles east۔And the nuclear force? That was a force, which lived only in Europe۔It did not live in India and we were not to worry about it۔" Salam soon got the chance to experience electricity first hand as he moved to the big city of Lahore to study at the University of Punjab۔He published his first scientific paper at the age of 17, and also finished a Master's degree۔Salam then won a scholarship to Cambridge, a haven for particle physicists under the great theorist Paul Dirac۔In 1946, he boarded the P&O Franconia from Bombay; a steamship headed for Liverpool with 600 Italian prisoners of war and 600 British families leaving India in anticipation of the British withdrawal the following year۔At Cambridge, Salam finished a first degree, and almost completed his Ph۔D۔, when he had to return home at the expiry of his scholarship in 1951۔He took up a professorship in physics at the University of Punjab۔His Ph۔D۔was awarded the following year۔Being the only practicing theoretical physicist, Salam quickly