Rethinking scientific legacy

Express Tribune

12-05-2025

As someone who has spent years teaching physics to university students, I often encounter a familiar anxiety in their eyes - an uncertainty about the future, a quiet disillusionment with the state of science in our country, and the nagging question: Does pursuing science in Pakistan even matter anymore?
To them, I offer a powerful answer - not in lecture form, but in the shape of a book: Memoirs of Riazuddin: A Physicist's Journey. It is a book that should be on every student's reading list, not merely for its academic insights, but for the moral and intellectual clarity it offers about the role of science - and scientists - in Pakistan's history.
Dr Riazuddin was one of Pakistan's most distinguished theoretical physicists, known for his profound contributions to high-energy physics and his pivotal role in the country's nuclear and scientific development. A student of Nobel Laureate Dr Abdus Salam, he combined academic brilliance with a deep sense of national service. Beyond his groundbreaking research, he played a crucial role in building scientific institutions. Quiet, principled and humble, Dr Riazuddin embodied the ideal of a scientist devoted to knowledge, integrity and the betterment of society.
This memoir, compiled by Dr Fayyazuddin and Dr M Jamil Aslam, is more than a biography - it is a tribute to what a principled scientist can accomplish against the odds. Dr Fayyazuddin, a distinguished particle physicist and twin brother of Dr Riazuddin, has long been associated with Quaid-i-Azam University and was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz. Dr Jamil Aslam, also a theoretical physicist at QAU, focuses on flavour physics. Together, they trace Riazuddin's journey from modest beginnings in Sahiwal to advanced studies at Cambridge and US institutions, and finally, to nation-building efforts at home - helping establish PINSTECH, developing the Physics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University (Islamabad), and mentoring generations of scientists.
What stands out most in the book is the honest, firsthand account of Pakistan's shift from peaceful nuclear ambitions to a militarised programme - particularly after the now-infamous 1972 meeting convened by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The memoir does not dramatise this shift but presents it with the clarity of a scientist bearing witness. Riazuddin and his twin brother Fayyazuddin were present - not as political actors, but as scientists caught between duty to country and duty to science.
It is equally important to acknowledge how the book rehabilitates the name of Dr Abdus Salam, often left out of our national narratives despite being a key figure in launching Pakistan's scientific infrastructure. Salam's mentorship nurtured a generation of Pakistani physicists, including Riazuddin, and helped establish the intellectual backbone of institutions like the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP). His vision was not of destruction, but of energy, development and enlightenment.
For my students nearing graduation and wondering whether their efforts will ever make a difference, this book provides both consolation and challenge. It offers the comfort of knowing that others before them faced similar doubts and persisted. And it presents the challenge of continuing the mission - to contribute to a scientific culture that values knowledge, critical thinking and integrity, regardless of recognition.
As a teacher, I cannot promise my students fame, fortune or immediate validation. But I can say with conviction that their work matters. Their experiments, papers and projects are part of a much larger story - a story that scientists like Dr Riazuddin helped begin. That story is not over.
Let this be your reminder: the research you do today, the questions you ask, the curiosity you nurture - these are seeds. They may not bloom instantly, but one day, they could become the quiet revolution Pakistan's future so desperately needs.