LONDON: Imperial College London this week announced that it will be naming its central library after late Pakistani physicist and Nobel Prize winner Dr Abdus Salam.

Prof Hugh Brady, president of the prestigious college, wrote to students telling them about the development, “Throughout his career, the Nobel Prize winning Professor of Theoretical Physics Abdus Salam made a tremendous contribution to Imperial, as well as to the world of physics and science more generally. It is right that we do more to celebrate this legacy. I hope the new Abdus Salam Library inspires many more people in the years to come.”

A formal launch and naming ceremony for the Abdus Salam Library will take place in the coming academic year. The university’s management board decided to name the library after Dr Salam as part of its response to the History Group Report, a publication by the university last year that focused on Imperial’s associations with historical figures and under-celebrated people from the university.

Dr Salam joined the university in 1957 and set up the Theoretical Physics Department with the late Prof T. Matthews during his time there. In 1979, Dr Salam shared the Nobel for his work in the field of electroweak unification theory.

The university announcement described him as a “passionate promoter of science education in the developing world”, noting that he founded the international Centre for Theoretical Physics in 1964 so scientists from developing countries would be able to interact with leaders in the field.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2023