Here’s Why This Pakistani Scientist Dedicated His Nobel Prize To An Indian

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Every year, we celebrate Teachers Day on September 5, honoring the contributions of our mentors and teachers. After all, a teacher can truly change the course of your life. 

But the impact that a good teacher leaves on your life doesn’t just last for a day. Their influence lasts for life. No other story proves that better than the story of Pakistani scientist and Nobel laureate Abdus Salam. 

Salam won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1979 - and dedicated it to an Indian, his Professor Anilendra Ganguly, who had taught him mathematics at the Sanatan Dharma College in Lahore. 

Who was Abdus Salam?

Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. In 1979, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for his contribution to the electroweak unification theory - becoming the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Prize in Science. 

Source: University of Utah

Salam belonged to a family of scholars. His grandfather was a religious scholar and physicist, and his father was an education officer in the Department of Education of pre-partition Punjab. Salam’s genius made waves when he was a teenager, winning a full scholarship to the Government College University of Lahore, Punjab State, British India.

Though he was equally interested in English, Urdu and Mathematics, he picked Mathematics as his concentration. After attaining his BA and MA in Mathematics, he won a scholarship to attend Cambridge University. 

Source: Scroll

At Cambridge, he attained his doctorate in Theoretical Physics–and received the Smith's Prize from Cambridge University in 1950 for the most outstanding pre-doctoral contribution to Physics. His doctoral thesis titled "Developments in Quantum Theory of Fields" won him the Adams Prize even before it was published in 1951. During his Doctoral Studies, Salam’s work drew the attention of renowned physicists like Richard Feynman and J. Robert Oppenheimer, among others.  

After his doctorate, Salam returned to Lahore as a Professor of Mathematics. Salam went on to achieve several awards and is often regarded as the father of Pakistan’s Theoretical Physics Group and Space Research Commission. He was even a scientific advisor to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Pakistan. 

Often remembered for his intellect and charismatic personality, Salam has also been the inspiration for a Netflix documentary that chronicles his life, his departure from Pakistan (after the country declared his community, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community as not-Muslim), and his lasting legacy. The 2018 documentary is titled, Salam - The First ****** Nobel Laureate. 

Source: IMDb

For Salam though, one of his greatest inspirations was his teacher, Indian Professor of Mathematics, Prof. Anilender Ganguly. 

The Teacher Who Inspired Salam

In 1979 when Salam won the Nobel Prize he reached out to the then-Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, to find Prof. Anilendra Ganguly. Professor Ganguly had taught Salam mathematics in the pre-Partition era at Sanatana Dharam College, Lahore. 

Source: Scroll

Two years later his search came to a successful conclusion - he found Professor Ganguly in Kolkata. Professor Ganguly was bedridden, but Salam made the visit to his house. He sat by his bedside, placed the 'Nobel prize medal around his neck, and said,  

“Sir, this Nobel Prize is the result of your love for learning and mathematics that you instilled in me. Sir, this is your noble, not mine.”

The gesture left the onlookers touched, reminding one and all of the power of a teacher.

 

 

 

 

 

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Even today, his dedication is a lesson to students about the value of respecting and remembering your teachers. Prof. Ganguly stands as an example of the value of a truly gifted teacher - one who continues to influence his students long after he stops teaching. 

Salam died in 1996, aged 70. Two years after his death, in 1998, the Pakistani Government issued a commemorative stamp, as a part of "Scientists of Pakistan", to honour his services. 

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