مسلمانوں کا نیوٹن ۔ ڈاکٹر عبدالسلام — Page 397
387 nominate Salam, but he was unwilling to give up his coveted Pakistani citizenship for this to happen۔Salam increasingly began to turn his attention to wider Third World issues, an area where he achieved far more fame and recognition۔In 1964, Salam after four years of strenuous lobbying, managed to convince the Italian government, the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to invest in the ICTP, where scientists from the Third World would interact with their peers from the West, exchange ideas, brush up on developments, and return home rejuvenated۔The Center has been a noted success۔In its three decades of existence, more than 60,000 physicists from 150 countries have passed through its doors, and produced more than 5,000 scientific papers in international journals۔Despite the name, ICTP has branched out into many, more 'applied' areas of physics۔An equivalent center for biotechnology opened in New Delhi recently۔In 1989 Salam founded the Third World Academy of Sciences to reward scientific excellence in the developing world, and later the Third World Network of Scientific Organizations, to promote better cooperation۔Despite being a devoutly religious man, and evangelical about physics and Third World issues, Salam was never evangelical about his faith, which he viewed as a private affair between him and His God۔“Every human being needs religion," he said in an interview with New Scientist in 1976۔"I would like you to become a Muslim," he told his interviewer Robert Walgate۔"But I wouldn't stick swords into you if you don't”۔In the middle of 1980's Salam contracted a mysterious affliction in his right leg, and began to use a walking stick۔This neurological illness slowly took over his entire body, and the early 1990's confined him confined to a wheelchair, barely able to speak۔His mind, however, was still active۔Pervez Hoodbhoy, a professor of physics at Quaide Azam University, in Islamabad, recalls a three-day conference in Trieste to honor Salam's retirement from Imperial College a few years ago۔Salam listened from his wheelchair, says Hoodbhoy, but made no attempt to speak۔At the end of the formal proceedings, people thronged towards Salam to offer their congratulations۔"As I watched it was the turn of a nervous young Pakistani visitor to ICTP۔Sir, I am a student from Pakistan۔We are very proud of you,' he said۔The rest I was unable to hear clearly۔Salam's shoulders shook and tears coursed silently down his face۔" Robert Walgate ended his interview with Salam 20 years ago, with the following worlds, the last sentence of which could be his epitaph: Salam is a man with tremendous enthusiasm, but he is one man without time, strung across two worlds and two problems۔It is a loss to the world that he cannot have two lives"۔I am a humble man (Prof Dr Salam)