Celebration of Abdus Salam ongoing international and scientific legacy

Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist, Abdus Salam, was the first Pakistani and first Muslim Nobel Laureate of science. Throughout his career he made a huge contribution to the world of science. While a Professor of theoretical physics at Imperial College London, Salam revealed the connection between electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force, bringing to light a beautiful symmetry of nature that had previously lay hidden. It was for this that he, along with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg, was awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 1979. Salam’s ground-breaking work forms the basis of what has come to be called the Standard Model ­– the formalism that underlies all of contemporary particle physics.

Salam's legacy span well beyond his groundbreaking scientific discoveries. He was ahead of his time in understanding that science should be a unifying force. In a divided world, Salam set out to build common ground and establish the International Center of Theoretical Physics (ICTP), where scientists from global south could enjoy facilities not otherwise available to them, and interact on an equal footing with their counterparts in the developed world.

 

The Salam Essay Contest

The Salam Essay Contest was initiated in 2023 thanks to the unwavering commitment of first female Pakistani string theorist, writer and educator Dr. Tasneem Zehra Husain

The first set of winners were announced on Jan 29th 2024, on the day marking Abdus Salam's 98th birthday and as parts of a day celebrating Salam's legacy at Imperial.

The second Salam Essay contest marking Salam's 99th birthday was on the topic of HIDDEN SYMMETRIES:

A constant through line in Salam’s life and science, was his search for symmetry. The universe, in his opinion was a manifestation of “ideas of beauty, symmetry and harmony, with regularity and without chaos.

As evidenced by his Nobel Prize winning work, Salam had an unusual ability to look beyond surface differences, to reveal the underlying similarities between ideas, people, and things. His biographer Nigel Calder wrote:

“for Salam, beauty comes through finding new, subtle yet simplifying patterns in the natural world.”

This form of beauty, like many others, lies in the eye of the beholder. It is a way of looking at the universe, one that can be learnt and honed through practice.

To enter the contest, students between 14 and 19 years of age, currently residing in Pakistan, had to write an essay about phenomena that would seem unconnected to the casual observer - the greater the apparent disconnect, the better - and had to show how, through careful consideration, they were able to perceive hidden commonalities.

With close to 200 submissions, choosing the winners of the 2025 winner has been a challenging task and we are grateful to the Salam family for their support in helping selecting the essays that best captured the beauty, harmony and creativity behind HIDDEN SYMMETRIES.