Science and technology in Pakistan
In Pakistan, science and technology served as an important part of national politics, practices, and extreme national identities. From 1960s till the present, both science and technology were immediately linked to the national ideology and practical functioning of Pakistan, notably the Pakistan Armed Forces, while science and technology is a growing and flourishing field in Pakistan. Many scientists, who worked in India and United Kingdom (like, e.g. Razi Siddiqui and Salim Siddiqui), migrated to Pakistan and helped give birth to science in Pakistan. Since its independence from Great Britain in 1947, the newly-found nation of Pakistan has seen a large influx of scientists, engineers, doctors, and technicians assuming an active role in its fields of science and technology. Liaquat Ali-Khan (office: 14 August 1947 – 16 October 1951), the first Prime minister, invited hundreds of scientists from India and made various reforms to initiate improvement in higher education and scientific research.
Marked by highly developed pure sciences and innovation at theoretical level, interpretation and application fell short. Physics (theoretical, nuclear, particle, laser, and Quantum physics), Material science, Metallurgy (Engineering), Biology, Chemistry (Organic), and Mathematics, are the fields in which Pakistan citizens excelled. During the 1960s till the present, the Pakistan government made the development and advancement of science a national priority and showered top scientists with honours. With the government making efforts to make science a part of national politics, there are several examples of budget cuts in the science funds where corruption remains a vital part of Pakistan politics. In the most notorious case, the government dissolved the Higher Education Commission — an administrative body that supervised research in science — in 2011. Mega science projects such as Black-Garden Dam, Thar Coal programme, and the Reko Dique gold mine programme were severely undermined by the political forces in Pakistan which contributed to the halt of scientific research in the country.
Pakistani scientists won acclaim in several fields. They were at the cutting edge of science in fields such as mathematics and in several branches of physical science, notably theoretical and nuclear physics, chemistry, and astronomy. Professor Abdus Salam, a theoretical physicist, was the first and the only Pakistan citizen to have won the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1979. Furthermore, technology is mostly high developed in the fields of nuclear physics and explosives engineering, where the arms race with the India convinced policy makers to set aside sufficient resources for research. Due to a crash programme directed by Munir Ahmad Khan and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Pakistan is the seventh nation to have developed an atomic bomb, which the global intelligence community believes it had done in 1983 (see Kirana-I), nine years after the India (see Pokhran-I). Pakistan first publicly tested its devices (see Chagai-I and Chagai-II) on 28 and 30 May 1998, a mere two weeks after the Republic of India carried out its own tests(See Pokhran-II).[1] Space exploration was hastily developed in 1990 Pakistan launched Badr-I followed by Badr-II in 2001. Since the 1980s, the space programme dedicated itself to military technologies (Space weapons programme and Integrated missile systems), and maintains a strong programme developed for military applications.
History
Main article: History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent
State controlled science
Unlike some Western countries, the majority of the research programmes are conducted not at the institutions (such as universities) but at the specially set up research facilities and institutes.[2] These institutes are performed under the government's Ministry of Science that overlooks the development and promotion of science in the country, while others are performed under the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, other specialized academies and even the research arms of various government ministries.[2] At first, the core of fundamental science was the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, originally set up in 1953 and moved from Karachi to Islamabad in 1964.[3] The Pakistan Academy of Sciences has a large percentage of researchers in the natural sciences, particularly physics.[3] From 1947 to 1971, the research was being conducted independently with no government influence.[3] The High Tension Laboratories (HTL) at the GCU was established by R.M. Chaudhrie with funds given by the British government in 1950s.[4] In 1967, Prof. Abdus Salam led the foundation of the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP) at the Quaid-e-Azam University, and the establishment of the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology and the Centre for Nuclear Studies; all were independently established by Pakistan's academic scientists with financial assistance provided by European countries.[4] However, after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became President, he took over the control of scientific research in 1972 as part of his intensified socialist reforms and policies.[4] With advice taken from Dr. Mubashir Hassan, Bhutto established the Ministry of Science with Ishrat Hussain Usmani, a bureaucrat with a doctorate in atomic physics.[2][4]During 1950s and 1960s, both West Pakistan and East Pakistan had their own academies of science, with the East Pakistan relying on West Pakistan to allot the funds.[2] Medical research is coordinated and funded by the Health Ministry[5] and agricultural research is led by Agriculture Ministry[6] and likewise, the research on environmental sciences is headed by the Environment Ministry.[4][7]
An aftermath of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan Winter War was that Bhutto funded around more than 200% funding of science, dedicated to military research and development. Bhutto, with the help of his Science Adviser Dr. Salam, gathered hundreds of scientists working abroad to develop what became an atom bomb. This crash programme was directed at first by Dr. Abdus Salam until 1974 and then directed and led by Munir Ahmad Khan from 1974 until 1991. For the first time an effort was made by the government when Pakistan's citizens made advancements in nuclear physics, theoretical physics and mathematics. In 1980s, General Zia-ul-Haq radicalized the science by enforcing pseudoscience - by his Muslim fundamentalists as administrators - in Pakistan's schools and universities. One of the premiers were Mazhar Mahmood Qurashi, a physicist educated in the United Kingdom, and Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, a nuclear engineer, also educated in the United Kingdom. They played a major role in radicalizing the science in Pakistan. General Zia-ul-Haq later promoted Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to export the sensitive industrial (military) technologies to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. Because of government control, academic research in Pakistan remains highly classified and unknown to the international scientific community. There have been several failed attempts made by foreign powers to infiltrate the country's research facilities to learn how much research has progressed and how much clandestine knowledge has been gained by Pakistan's scientific community.[8] One of the notable cases was in the 1970s, when the Libyan intelligence made an unsuccessful attempt to gain knowledge on critical aspects of nuclear physics, and crucial mathematical calculations in theoretical physics, but was thwarted by the ISI Directorate for Joint Intelligence Technical (JIT).[8] From the 1980s and onward, both the Russian intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency made several attempts to access Pakistan's research but because of the ISI, they were unable to gain any information.[8] From the period 1980 to 2004, research in science fell short until General Pervez Mushrraf established the Higher Education Commission (HEC) which heightened the contribution of science and technology in Pakistan. Major research was undertaken by Pakistan's institutes in the field of natural sciences.[2] However, with the unfavourable situations, research declined. In 2011, the government dissolved the HEC and the control of education was taken by governmental ministries.[2]
Scientific research institutions (SRI)
See also: List of research institutes in Pakistan
A large part of research is conducted by science research institutes with semi-controlled by the Government.- H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry
- National Center for Physics
- National Institute of Mathematics
- PU Centre for High Energy Physics
- Institute of Space and Planetary Astrophysics
- National Engineering and Scientific Commission
- Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Physics
- Institute of Space Technology
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
- Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology
- Nuclear Institute for Food and Agriculture
- Technology Resource Mobilization Unit
- Federal Bureau of Statistics
- Mathematics Statistical Division
Notable scientists
Main article: List of Pakistani scientists
Nobel Prize
- Abdus Salam — winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1979) for his theory of Electroweak theory that combines weak and electromagnetic forces. Professor Salam is the most and highly decorated scientist of Pakistan, with honoring with most state awards including the Sitara-e-Pakistan (Star of Pakistan) in 1959 with no other scientist has received that honor to date yet.
Albert Einstein Award
- Riazuddin — winner of Einstein Award (2000) for his contribution in theoretical physics, notably the contribution in neutrinos. Riazuddin, pupil student of Salam, remains the most state decorated scientist of Pakistan with receiving state honors and international prizes, second to Abdus Salam.
- Mujahid Kamran — winner of Einstein Award (2001) for the leading research in quantum mechanics.
Order of Excellence
Scientists who are awarded the highest hierarchy of Pakistan, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Order of Excellence).- Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry — honored in 1998 for his contribution in the advancement of nuclear physics.
- Abdus Salam — honored in 1979 for outstanding contribution in developing the Pakistan science.
- Ishfaq Ahmad — honored with Nishan-e-Imtiaz (1998) for his contribution in nuclear physics.
- Abdul Qadeer Khan — honored twice (1996 and 1999) for developing the gas-centrifuge programme.
- Riazuddin — awarded and honored (1998) for his contribution to theoretical physics.
- Atta ur Rahman — honored in 2002 for his edge leading research in Natural product chemistry.
- Samar Mubarakmand — honored in 2003 for the contribution in space programme and nuclear physics.
- Ishrat Hussain Usmani — honored in 1998 for his enhancing the science in Pakistan.
- Munir Ahmad Khan — honored in 2012 for his contribution to science and the nuclear programme of Pakistan.
Order of Crescent
Scientists who are conferred with second highest honored, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Order of Crescent).- Munir Ahmad Khan — honored in 1989 for building Pakistan's nuclear fuel cycle programme.
- Tasneem M. Shah — honored in 1998 for leading research in mathematics and pioneering and instrumental research computational fluid dynamics (CFD) at Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).
- Asghar Qadir — honored in 2008 for his international research in mathematics and pioneering research in mathematical science at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission
- Salimuzzaman Siddiqui — honored in 1980 for his leading research in medical chemistry.
National prizes
The most prestigious government prize awarded for achievements in science and technology is Nishan-e-Imtiaz (or in English Order of Excellence). While Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz occupies a unique role and importance in Pakistan's civil society.Achievements
Science in Pakistan during the 20th century (1960–2000) remains a vital and strong foreign policy component of Pakistan. In 1961, international achievements first recorded in 1961 when Pakistan became third Asian country and tenth in the world when the Rehbar-I — a solid fuel expandable rocket— was launched from Sonmani Spaceport. The Rehbar-I was launched and developed under the leadership of dr. W. J. M. Turowicz, a renowned Polish-Pakistani scientist and then-project-director of this program. Since then, the program began taking flights which continued until 1970s.However, a major-breakthrough was internationally recorded in 1979, when the Nobel Prize Committee announced to award the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics to Abdus Salam for formulating the Electroweak Theory — a theory that provides the basis of unification of weak nuclear force and the electromagnetic force. In 1990, Suparco launched her first and locally designed communication satellite, Badr-I, from Xichang Satellite Launch Center of the Peoples Republic of China. With launch of this satellite, Pakistan became first Muslim majority country to have been succeeded to developed artificial robotic satellite, and was the second South Asian state to have launched its satellite, second to India.
One of the widely reported achievement was internationally recorded in 1998, when country joined the elite Nuclear club. In response of India's nuclear tests on May 11 and May 13 of 1998, under codename Operation Shakti, in long-constructed Indian Army Pokhran Test Range (PTR). Pakistan under the leadership of Prime minister Navaz Scharief, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), conducted five simultaneous tests at the Chagai Hills under codename Chagai-I on May 28, 1998. To even the score with India, the PAEC carried another and test at the Kharan Desert, under Chaga-II, making it has tested a total of six devices in under one week. With the testing of these atomic devices, Pakistan became 7th nuclear power country in the world, and the only Muslim-majority country to have mastered the technology. In August 13 of 2011, the Suparco launched its first and indigenously developed geosynchronous satellite, Paksat-IR from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre of the People's Republic of China.
Information technology
Main article: Information technology in Pakistan
Mindstorm Studios, a Lahore-based company, has developed a video game called Cricket Revolution which also won the Cricket Gaming Awards 2010.Golden age of Science
Pakistan is the home of Dr. Abdus Salam who became the first Pakistan winner of Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979. Abdus Salam was the father of scientific research in Pakistan.[9] Under the watchful direction of Salam, mathematicians and physicists tackled the greatest and outstanding problems in physics and mathematics.[9] From 1960 to 1974, Salam was responsible for leading the research at its maximum point. This prompted the international recognition of Pakistani mathematicians and physicists, that resulted the for the Pakistani scientists and mathematicians to conduct their research at CERN.[9] This period is often regarded as the Golden age of Physics in Pakistan, where physicists, particularly from Pakistan, had shared and applied an effort to the advancement of physics and mathematics. Abdus Salam and his students (Riazuddin, Fayyazuddin and others) revolutionized the particle and theoretical physics, are thought to be modern pioneers of particle physics at all aspect of it. A pure research was taken in Quantum electrodynamics, Quantum field theory, protonic decay and major fields in physics, were pioneered by Pakistan's scientists. With the establishment of nuclear and neutron institutes in the country, Pakistan's mathematicians introduced complex mathematical applications to study and examine the behaviors of elements during the fission process. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui is the pioneering personality for studying the isolation of unique chemical compounds from the Neem (Azadirachta indica), Rauwolfia, and various other flora.The 1960s and the 1970s period is regarded as the rise of Pakistan's science, which gained an international reputation in the different science communities of the world.[9] During this period, scientists contributed to the fields of, particularly, Theoretical, Particle, Mathematical, and the Nuclear physics, and other major and sub fields of Physics.[9] The research was preceded by such key physicists as Riazuddin, Ishfaq Ahmad, Pervez Hoodbhoy and Samar Mubarakmand, among others.
Challenges
Pakistan has been known internationally for some of its major achievements in science and technology such as successful development of media and military technologies and a growing base of doctors and engineers, as well as a fair amount of its new influx of software engineers who have been actively contributing to Pakistan's potential in the Information Technology industry. However due to present situation in Pakistan, around 3,000 Pakistani doctors emigrate to Western economies in search of suitable employment opportunities and hence contribute intellectually to the health sector of developed countries and at the same time leaving the effects of a brain drain in Pakistan.Despite some progressive scientific achievements, Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy published a report on scientific output in Pakistan in which he pointed out that research and scientific activities are significantly lower than many other developing countries[10] Hoodbhoy cites that Pakistan has produces far fewer papers than neighboring India.[11] In terms of the number of published scientific research papers, together with the citations to them, Hoodbhoy demonstrates that the output of Pakistan for physics papers, over the period from 1 January 1997 to 28 February 2007, together with the total number of publications in all scientific fields, is substantially lower than Brazil, India, China, and the United States.[11][12] Hoodbhoy attributes this dearth to militant Islam in Pakistan and the promotion of pseudoscience by Muslim fundamentalists in Pakistani schools and universities.[13]
0 comments:
Post a Comment