LAHORE: The first Abdus Salam Medal for Mathematics was given to two young expatriates at a ceremony arranged by the National Mathematical Society of Pakistan at a The Mall hotel on Saturday.

The International Mathematics Union, Unesco, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, and Kangourou Sans Frontières (KSF) – Pakistan collaborated on the event.

Dr Ayesha Asloob Qureshi of Sabanci University (Turkey) and Dr Sahibzada Waleed Noor of the University of Campinas (Brasil) were selected for the prestigious award by an international panel of mathematicians.

Both received their medals from chief guest retired Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool, the former governor of Punjab, who also gave away Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr Faqir Muhammad Bhatti for his contributions to the mathematics education in Pakistan.

Cash awards were given to Zoya Zulfikar, Zeeshan Saleem and Nimra Akhtar for winning CASPAM Regional Mathematics Olympiad organised by the Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan.

Dr Nusrat Yasmin of the BZU also received Certificate of Appreciation while cash prize was also given to Sauleh Asif for winning a Bronze medal for Pakistan at the International Mathematics Olympiad 2017.

The Pakistan Olympic team was trained by Dr Sarfraz Ahmad at the Lahore campus of Comsats.

Khalid Maqbool stressed the need for improving the standard of science, research and innovation in order to keep pace with time. He recalled that during his tenure as governor, three centres of excellence were established but only the Dr Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences earned repute at national and international levels.

Earlier, Prof AD Raza Choudary, the founding director general of Abdus Salam School of Mathematical Sciences of the GC University, Lahore, said the main purpose of giving away these awards was to recognise the young and senior mathematicians at national and international levels for their excellent performance.

He said it was encouraging that the National Mathematical Society of Pakistan took the initiative to evaluate, recognise and award academicians engaged in real discoveries in the field of mathematics.

National Mathematical Society of Pakistan President Dr Ahmad Mahmood Qureshi congratulated Dr Ayesha and Dr Waleed on behalf of the selection committee -- Prof Stefano Luzzatto of the mathematics section of ICTP, Trieste, Prof Jeroen Lamb of the Imperial College, London, and Prof Hasan Azad of King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018