Cosmic Anger, the first biography of Dr Salam to appear in English in 16 years, is a sensitive, and at times moving, account of his life and science.

In Cosmic Anger, Gordon Fraser has taken a 'much broader approach' to the art of biography Salam comes on the centre stage only in chapter four of the book, after the social, political, and religious milieux (that he was a product of) have been presented for 'an appreciation of his roots'. Fraser is a skilful storyteller and knows how to choose relevant anecdotes and quotations.

Salam was born in Santokdas, Sahiwal district, not Jhang as commonly thought, and was 'brought up in a crowded single-roomed house in a town [Jhang] that did not even have electricity'. In 1946, Salam won a scholarship to study at Cambridge. He returned in 1951 to teach at Government College but, faced with 'academic loneliness and stultification', returned to Cambridge in 1954. He joined Imperial College, London, in 1957 from which he retired in 1993.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1979. He came close to winning it in the 1950s but he withheld an important paper about massless neutrinos and physics of weak interactions (that involves neutrinos) being sensitive to direction. He did so after the Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Pauli, 'the universally acknowledged Chief Justice of Physics', sent Salam a caustic message 'Give my regards to my friend Salam and tell him to think of something better.' Soon Pauli was proved wrong and he apologised.

Cosmic anger in the title of Fraser's book refers to Salam's controlled passion against 'the injustice of the world where lack of opportunity can handicap even the most gifted students'. The scientist was keenly aware of this but had, fortunately, managed to escape its clutches and he set about changing the situation.

Salam had been introduced to the UN and the world of international diplomacy and politics by Chaudhri Zafrullah, Pakistan's distinguished foreign minister. Salam used his prestige as a scientist, his skills at practical manoeuvring, and his 'cosmic anger' to establish, in 1964, the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) to foster science and contacts among scientists from the less privileged countries. ICTP was his 'anti-brain-drain' weapon for developing countries.

His scientific contributions and honours brought him extraordinary eminence. But he remained an outcast in his own country. Benazir Bhutto snubbed him in 1988 when she refused to see him. In his Faiz Memorial Lecture the same year, he quoted Sir Syed Ahmed 'You may disown me, you may call me an infidel - a kafir - but allow me to educate the nation's youth for the sake of the future just as you allow a non-Muslim mason to build a holy mosque.'

Salam was a deeply religious man, the only one among all the great theoretical physicists. To him, physics was a 'revelation of Allah's design'. Cosmic Anger makes an important contribution to our understanding of his personal faith as well as to the consequences to our society when governments start meddling in the personal beliefs of its citizens, displacing from society reason and moderation, and strengthening intolerance and bigotry.

He suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a disabling brain disorder. In the last years of his life, he lost control over his body, often resulting in falls that required hospitalisation. Slowly, PSP took away Salam's ability to walk, write, and speak and eventually to eat and drink.

Salam was fluent in six languages. Because of PSP, this fluency disappeared and he 'involuntarily retreated into silence and isolation'. His exceptionally vital mind, his drive, his talent, all became hostage to his rigid and uncooperative but increasingly fragile body. As Luciano Bertocchi put it, 'his body was no longer obeying his spirit'.
His love for Pakistan reminds us of those dedicated but forsaken lovers that feature so prominently in the poetry of Mir and Ghalib. Despite being spurned, these dedicated lovers never stop loving their beloved.

He loved his country and burned with a zeal for its advancement in science and technology, even when Pakistanis chose to disown to him. Sadly and unfortunately, for both for him and his country, this cruelty did not end with his death.

Salam died on November 21, 1996 in Oxford and was later buried in Pakistan. The Pakistani government chose not to provide an official reception to Salam's last journey. In the words of Fraser 'Soon the grave was visited by contemptuous outsiders and the inscription edited by an imperious hammer and chisel to read 'Abdus Salam , the First ... Nobel Laureate', and daubed with black paint. In death, as in life, Abdus Salam was vilified in the country to which he had tried to contribute so much.'

Cosmic Anger Abdus Salam The First Muslim Nobel Scientist

By Gordon Fraser
Oxford University Press,
New York
ISBN 978-0-19-920846-3
305pp. $49.95