Dear All:
Last year in June I was in Zurich-Switzerland to attend a Structural Engineering Conference and also to present there a research
paper of mine.
After the Conference I took some time off to visit Geneva. Upon arrival in Geneva, my children drew my attention to CERN - and
advised me to find time to visit. Frankly, I had no idea then about CERN.
Luckily the Hotel where I was staying gave us some leaflets and brochures for the things to see in Geneva. I was surprised to see
the Leaflets did mention about CERN also and how to get there - that is details about the Trams that went there.
Therefore, the first thing in the morning that I did was to set off for CERN. Wow - it was a great place to visit - never in my life I had
visited such a place.
If you do not know it already CERN is:
CERN is the Eurpean Organization for Nuclear Reserach.
Its Hadron Collider is the word's largest - with 27 Km built 100 m below the earth and spans between Switzterland and France.
URL Links:
Any way to cut story short I spent almost 3 hrs in the two museums there at CERN. In one of the museums I watched a Video which
mentioned that Dr. Abdus Salam, the only proud Pakistani to have won the coveted Nobel Prize, in his research that won him the Nobel
Prize had mentioned the need to discover a New Particle. This Hydron Collider that was set up at CERN is to do to discover this New
Particle.
Dr. Abdus Salam and Steven Weinberg, with whom he shared the Nobel Prize, independently predicted the existence of a subatomic
particle which has now been finally discovered - and called the Higgs Boson, named after a British physicist who theorized that it endowed other particles with mass.
Well, Dr. Abdus Salam did us Pakistani proud but what we did to him - to disgrace him - is no secret.
An article from Washington Post tells all.
URL Link:
Love all and always.
Faiz Al-Najdi
P.S: Below this article is the email that I had posted to the PWC Group immediately after visiting CERN last year.
You may find it interesting to read too.
-
<<Someone's Sitting in the Shade Today Because Someone Planted a Tree a Long Time Ago>>
~ Warren Buffet
Pakistan shuns prize-winning physicist linked to 'God particle' because of religious beliefs
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, July 9, 7:24 AM
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 program, 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 Shiite Muslims, 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 Sunni Muslims.
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 honors. 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, named after a British physicist who theorized that it endowed other particles with mass, said Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani physicist who once worked with Salam. It is also known as the "God particle" because its existence is vitally important toward understanding the early evolution of the universe.
Physicists in Switzerland stoked worldwide excitement Wednesday when they announced they have all but proven the particle's existence. This was done using the world's largest atom smasher at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, near Geneva.
"This would be a great vindication of Salam's work and the Standard Model as a whole," said Khurshid Hasanain, chairman of the physics department at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Salam wielded significant influence in Pakistan as the chief scientific adviser to the president, helping to set up the country's space agency and institute for nuclear science and technology. Salam also assisted in the early stages of Pakistan's effort to build a nuclear bomb, which it eventually tested in 1998.
Salam's life, along with the fate of the 3 million other Ahmadis in Pakistan, drastically changed in 1974 when parliament amended the constitution to declare that members of the sect were not considered Muslims under Pakistani law.
Ahmadis believe their spiritual leader, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who died in 1908, was a prophet of God — a position rejected by the government in response to a mass movement led by Pakistan's major Islamic parties. Islam considers Muhammad the last prophet and those who subsequently declared themselves prophets as heretics.
All Pakistani passport applicants must sign a section saying the Ahmadi faith's founder was an "impostor" and his followers are "non-Muslims." Ahmadis are prevented by law in Pakistan to "pose" as Muslims, declare their faith publicly, call their places of worship mosques or perform the Muslim call to prayer. They can be punished with prison and even death.
Salam resigned from his government post in protest following the 1974 constitutional amendment and eventually moved to Europe to pursue his work. In Italy, he created a center for theoretical physics to help physicists from the developing world.
Although Pakistan's then-president, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, presented Salam with Pakistan's highest civilian honor after he won the Nobel Prize, the general response in the country was muted. The physicist was celebrated more enthusiastically by other nations, including Pakistan's archenemy, India.
Despite his achievements, Salam's name appears in few textbooks and is rarely mentioned by Pakistani leaders or the media. By contrast, fellow Pakistani physicist A.Q. Khan, who played a key role in developing the country's nuclear bomb and later confessed to spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya, is considered a national hero. Khan is a Muslim.
Officials at Quaid-i-Azam University had to cancel plans for Salam to lecture about his Nobel-winning theory when Islamist student activists threatened to break the physicist's legs, said his colleague Hoodbhoy.
"The way he has been treated is such a tragedy," said Hoodbhoy. "He went from someone who was revered in Pakistan, a national celebrity, to someone who could not set foot in Pakistan. If he came, he would be insulted and could be hurt or even killed."
The president who honored Salam would later go on to intensify persecution of Ahmadis, for whom life in Pakistan has grown even more precarious. Taliban militants attacked two mosques packed with Ahmadis in Lahore in 2010, killing at least 80 people.
"Many Ahmadis have received letters from fundamentalists since the 2010 attacks threatening to target them again, and the government isn't doing anything," said Qamar Suleiman, a spokesman for the Ahmadi community.
For Salam, not even death saved him from being targeted.
Hoodbhoy said his body was returned to Pakistan in 1996 after he died in Oxford, England, and was buried under a gravestone that read "First Muslim Nobel Laureate." A local magistrate ordered that the word "Muslim" be erased.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
© The Washington Post Company
MY EMAIL THAT I HAD SENT FROM GENEVA IN JUNE-2011 AFTER VISITING CERN (COPY-PASTED) ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Faiz Al-Najdi <faizalnajdi@gmail.com>Date: Tue, Jun 28, 2011 at 11:09 PM
Subject: Re: [PakistanWritersClub-Riyadh] CERN - the World's Largest Hadron
ColliderTo:
PakistanWritersClub-Riyadh@yahoogroups.comCc:
overseas.pakistanis@gmail.com,
pakistanicommunityingulf@yahoogroups.com,
overseas_pakistanis-owner@yahoogroups.com,
s4sameera@yahoogroups.com Dear Pervez Naushahi:
Thanx for the kind words and appreciations. I likedthe way
you recalled our first encounter with each other at the Galadari
Cement project. This was at the time when I had just returned
after completing my masters at AIT and my seccond stint with
NESPAK-Karachi.
Thanx again for this reminder!!
As The Carpenters (Karen) has sung her famoous number,
Yesterdya Once More....
<<Those were the happiest times and not so long ago,
how I wonder where they have gone. But they are back
again just like the long lost friend...its Yesterday once more...>>
About CERN, let me add here further that the reserach that got Dr. Abdus Salam
and his co-author the coveted Nobel Prize had indicated need of reserach to find
and discover a new Element "W".
The Physicists at CERN explore matter using machnie called "Particle Accelerators".
These accelerate beams of particles and smash them into each other, or into other
targets, to create high energy conditions similar to those in the first instants of the
Universe - that is the Big Bang. During this particle collision a new element "W" is
created, which Dr. Abdus Salam and his co-authors had first stipulated in their award
winning research.
In the Hadron Collider Museum at CERN there are many videos shown. In one such video
it is shown how the particle collision came to create the new element "W", and it did show
Dr. Abdus Salam and mentioned his name giving him full honor and credit to him. I felt
very proud at that time. Then I though what we did to this legend - Dr. Abdus Salam. We
ostracised him although he deserved to be weighed in gold.
Shame on us!!!!!
Love all and always.
Faiz Al-Najdi
--
<<Dil Na Umeed toh Nahin , Nakaam hi toh Hae Lambi Hae Gham ki Sham, Magar Sham hi to Hae>>
----------Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Dear Faiz, A.A.
Its good to see you still keep your interest in engineering like you had at
Galadari Cement project/
NESPAK, 30 yrs ago. You are big source of inspiration for other engineers to try & perform at their best. Just for information, CERN president was in Islamabad/
Nathiagally to attend 36
th yearly international summer camp of nuclear scientists (started in 1976). He had meeting with our prime minister & invited him to visit & collaborate with CERN. Have good time in beautiful place with beautiful people as well.
Wassalam.
Parvez NaushahiGeneral ManagerGEC, P. O. Box 2870Al Khobar 31952Saudi Arabia Dear All:
After an exhausting Conference in Zurich I came to Geneva to relax - for sight-seeing,
looking at the city, its street sites, buildings & architectures, its Trams, buses, and
railways and above its lakes and fountains.
However, my children enlightened me about CERN and its two museums. Frankly
I didn't know about CERN at all, before my children educated me about the same.
This morning I was at CERN to see its two museums.
CERN is the Eurpean Organization for Nuclear Reserach.
Its Hadron Collider is the word's largest - with 27 Km built 100 m below the earth and
spans between Swizterland and France.
URL Links:
Please find time to read an explore about CERN and let yoyr children know about is also.
Love all and always.
Faiz Al-Najdi
--
<<Dil Na Umeed toh Nahin , Nakaam hi toh Hae Lambi Hae Gham ki Sham, Magar Sham hi to Hae>>
----------Faiz Ahmad Faiz
CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research - The Large Hadron Collider
The Large Hadron Collider
Our understanding of the Universe is about to change...
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a
particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the minuscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.
Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of
experiments dedicated to the LHC.
There are many theories as to what will result from these collisions, but what's for sure is that a brave new world of physics will emerge from the new accelerator, as knowledge in particle physics goes on to describe the workings of the Universe. For decades, the
Standard Model of particle physics has served physicists well as a means of understanding the fundamental laws of Nature, but it does not tell the whole story. Only experimental data using the higher energies reached by the LHC can push knowledge forward, challenging those who seek confirmation of established knowledge, and those who dare to dream beyond the paradigm.