The forgotten Ahmadi
Aug 06, 2012
The Telegraph via Samizdata:
Professor Abdus Salam was one of Pakistan's finest minds. His work in the field of theoretical physics, on unifying the electromagnetic and weak forces, earned him the country's first – and only – Nobel prize for physics in 1979. He died in 1996 but his name has resurfaced in recent weeks, a reminder of his work in characterising the then hypothetical Higgs boson in the 1960s.
Why is it that so many Pakistanis don't have a clue about who he was?
In any other country his incredible achievements would be celebrated. In Pakistan, however, his memory is shunned. His gravestone has been altered so that he is no longer described as a Muslim and his house, bought by the government, stands unmaintained and forgotten.
Abdus Salam just wasn't Muslim enough.
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