Nobel Prize-winning Theoretical Physicist, Professor Salam (1926-1996) was the first science NobelLaureate from an Islamic country and the first of Pakistani birth. Founder of the Theoretical Physics Group atImperial on his appointment in 1957, Salam was

Nobel Prize-winning Theoretical Physicist, Professor Salam (1926-1996) was the first science Nobel

Laureate from an Islamic country and the first of Pakistani birth. Founder of the Theoretical Physics Group at

Imperial on his appointment in 1957, Salam was the first Asian to hold a Professorship at any UK university.

Salam pioneered the study of symmetries and unification. In 1967 he incorporated the Higgs mechanism,

codiscovered by his Imperial colleague Tom Kibble, into a unified electroweak theory, a breakthrough that

led to his Nobel Prize in 1979.

Profoundly committed to the betterment of science and education in the developing world, he established the

International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste with the support of UNESCO, dedicated to fostering

the careers of scientists from developing countries and international scientific advocacy and cooperation.

Salam retained his position at Imperial throughout his life, doing foundational work on the unification of all the

fundamental forces of nature. His scientific legacy at Imperial continues today in the world leading theoretical

physics group that he created.

 

Photography by Fergus Burnett

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