Higgs Boson and Pakistani scientist

E-Paper | June 13, 2026

RECENTLY, at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), scientists have discovered Higgs Boson, colloquially known as God Particle. It is termed as the final missing piece of the Standard Model of particle physics.

The model was developed by Dr Abdus Salam in liaison with other scientists and received Nobel Prize for that.

This discovery of Higgs Boson, as predicted by Abdus Salam, fundamentally establishes that theory as a law.

Perhaps only a few hundred or thousand people in Pakistan would be cognizant of the fact that this discovery of Higgs Boson, as predicted by Abdus Salam, means the Nobel Prize he got was for one of the greatest theories that would ever be laid out.

Strangely and sadly, there has been no news in Pakistani media of a major role played by a Pakistani in this sensational discovery.

I have been in the US for three years now and not once has anybody from any nation said to me a positive thing about Pakistan. It is time that we should cash in on this news and give some sense of pride to our strayed and depressed nation and improve our image in the world.

MUHAMMAD AMIR Research Associate Department of Hepatology Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University USA

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Tragic disparity

Subhash

Jul 12, 2012 10:34am

I read a brief account of Dr Abdus Salam's life and work in a local news paper in Mumbai . If he had stayed in India , I think , he would have been held as a national hero on the backdrop of discovery of God-particle. What has religion of a citizen got to do with his scientific work?

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Syed Ahmed

Jul 12, 2012 05:21pm

Sad indeed, we disowned the Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam for religio-political reasons. There is another Nobel laureate in making. Your guess would be as good as mine.

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Ramesh Mohindra,MD

Jul 12, 2012 04:24pm

For a moment, please leave aside whether, Abdus Salam was a muslim or non-muslim. Let us look at his accompalisments. Word Boson is coined by Paul Dirac, after Indian scientist, Satyendra Nath Bose. He gave a lecture in Dhaka university, in 1924. He predicted the presence of fundamental paticles, which are often the force carriers or constituents of radiation. Boson are different from subatomic particlescalled Fermions in the sense that there is no limit to the number that can occupy the same quantum state. British were ruling India at that time and they will not publish his theory. Bose then sent his scientific paper to Einstein, who immediately recognised the genius in this theory and published a paper in support of Bose. It became known as Bose-Einstein statistics. Later British scientist Higgs and Abdus Salam expanded the work on Bosons, which ultmately proven to exist by the recent CERN discovery in Switzerland. Now, please understand Abdus Salam was a human being, whether one consders him a muslim or not. What does it matter.?

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From the west

Jul 12, 2012 02:20pm

They have been saying that since the inception of Pakistan, of course this is not what MA Jinnah meant.

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ABlitzer

Jul 12, 2012 06:59am

"Pakistan disowned the poor gentleman, in case you so not remember." That's exactly the point Mr. Amir above is trying to make. It was foolish of the GoP (led by none other than Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto) to ostracize the Ahmadi community in 1974 and declare them as non-Muslims. It's time to right this wrong and accepting Dr. Abdus Salam as one of our own is the first step in this direction.

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Guru

Jul 12, 2012 06:12am

Pakistan disowned the poor gentleman, in case you so not remember.

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Vijay K

Jul 12, 2012 12:55pm

I dont get it : OK, so he is a non-muslim. How does that make him a non-Pakistani? Are Pakistanis saying that only Muslims can be Pakistani?

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Sanjay

Jul 12, 2012 12:39pm

Whatever the faith of Dr.Abdus Salam was he is a pakistani.Mr. Salam should be given the credit for the work he has done as scientist and as a Pakistani national. We are proud of Dr.Salam for his scientific contribution toward developing Standard Model theory.

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althaf

Jul 12, 2012 07:43am

Abdus Salam was declared a non-Muslim. His grave stone was desecrated. And, now you want to take credit for his accomplishment?

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BRR

Jul 13, 2012 04:36am

Just tr erecting a statue for him in pakistan today, and see how many riots occur and how many people get killed. So much for appreciating his achievements.

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J.S.Hussain

Jul 17, 2012 03:08am

Dr. Abdus Salam was great scientist and a Nobel Prize winner. He might have been born in British India but really he belonged to the whole humanity.

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