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Pride of the Nation; Dr. A Q Khan

Sabeeka Zafar
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Pride of the Nation; Dr. A Q Khan

Dr. Khan is a Pakistani nuclear scientist, known as the pride of the nation and the father of the Pakistan atomic bomb program. Dr. Khan headed Pakistan’s nuclear program for 25 years. He played a crucial role in strengthening Pakistan’s national security against India and other enemies of the nation. He is the only Pakistani scientist who has been awarded high civil rights twice.

Early Life and Career

This genius and patriot man was born on the land of Bhopal in 1963. After five years of independence, he migrated to Pakistan. He continued his further education at St. Anthony’sAnthony’s High School, and later he joined College of Karachi, where he studied physics and mathematics as major subjects. Later on, He moved to West Germany for higher education. He obtained a Master of Science (Technology) in 1967 from Delft University of Technology and then a doctorate in metallurgy from the Catholic University Leuven (Belgium) in 1972. He excelled in the field of metallurgy- the art of building centrifuges; by attending several courses in metallurgical engineering.

He also served in the URENCO consortium.

From May 1972 to December 1975, Dr. A Q Khan worked as a scientist on a nuclear plant in a Physics Dynamic Research Laboratory (also known as FDO), based in Amsterdam. Meanwhile, he also served in the URENCO consortium, specializing in the manufacture of nuclear equipment.

Contribution to Pakistan’s Nuclear program

Right after India declared their nuclear design, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto called an urgent meeting of Pakistani scientists on January 20, 1972, and put forward a dire need to carry out the task of nuclear explosions. Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was appointed to supervise this task. On September 17, 1974, while Dr.Khan was working for URENCO in the Netherlands, he wrote a letter to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto offering his services as a nuclear scientist, and he also suggested him to adapt the uranium route in building a nuclear weapon. He headed to Pakistan in December 1974, met Bhutto in person, and convinced him to go with his uranium route rather than the plutonium.

Initially, he worked in coordination with Munir Ahmed, head of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which didn’t work for an extended period. Later Bhutto provided A Q Khan full charge of the Kahuta Enrichment Project in July 1976. A Q khan built Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) and developed the uranium enrichment plant. Later, on May 01, 1981, on the orders of Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, ERL was renamed as Dr. A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL). Ultimately this uranium enrichment led to the successful testing of Pakistan’sPakistan’s first nuclear device.

Significant Achievements

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan has served in science and technology in several remarkable ways, he published more than 188 scientific research papers in international journals. The significant process was made in uranium enrichment with the successful test-firing of Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missiles, Ghauri 1, in April 1998 and Ghauri II in April 1999, respectively.

For his marvelous contributions, Dr. Khan received the honorary award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz.
For his marvelous contributions, Dr. Khan received the honorary award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz.

Dr. A Q Khan was also the founder of the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Tech in Topi, Swat. He was awarded the prestigious degree of doctor of science from the University of Karachi in 1993, from Baqai Medical University in 1998, Doctor of Science from Hamdard University, Karachi in1999, and from the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore in December 2000. For his marvelous contributions, he received the honorary award of Nishan-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz.

In November 2003, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency warned the government of Pakistan of possible nuclear leaks. Khan was suspected of playing a significant role in this transfer of information regarding nuclear technology to other counties.

On January 31, 2004, he was arrested for his involvement in nuclear proliferation. Initially, he denied the accusation. Still, on February 4, he made an appearance on the Pakistani television and took the complete responsibility of his actions and exonerated Pakistan military and government from this scandal that rose a lot of questions later. He was held house arrest until 2009.
Despite being a controversial figure, he is still hailed by the masses as the national hero and pride of Pakistan.

Also, Read The underrated prodigy; Rosalind franklin

SpaceX ends 2019 with a rocket launch

Scientia
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SpaceX ends 2019 with a rocket launch

SpaceX launched its last rocket of the decade, on Thursday, December 5th, from Cape Canaveral Florida. The rocket Falcon 9 successfully lifted off and is on its way to the International Space Station, carrying essential supplies and experiments for the astronauts onboard ISS.

The brand-new rocket carried previously used the Dragon capsule. It is the SpaceX’s 19th trip to the ISS and the final trip of the decade. It is part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services Program. The reusable rocket booster, after successfully sending its payload to space, descended and successfully landed on the SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean. In about a month the Dragon capsule will also return to earth.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. Photo credit: NASA

The absence of gravity and microgravity has different and mysterious effects on chemical and biological reactions. About one-third of the payloads delivered to the ISS are meant for science experiments to be carried out on the orbiting premier laboratory. The experiments carried out on the ISS range from biological experiments such as to study the effect of microgravity on muscle degradation of mice, to experiments such as observing the behavior of fire in microgravity. The payload also included a brewer sent by Anheuser-Busch to study the brewing and malting of barley seeds in microgravity in order to make Budweiser the “first beer on Mars”.

In 2018 alone, SpaceX carried out a record of twenty-one launches. Although this year SpaceX had launched twelve launches to this date, it plans to send more before closing the decade. By mid-December, SpaceX plans to send 60 more of its Starlink internet satellites. It also plans to conduct an in-flight abort test that will jettison Crew Dragon Capsule during the flight. But the dates of these tests have not yet been announced.   

Also Read: Vikram lander debris spotted by NASA

CO₂ emissions to be an all-time high in 2019

Scientia
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CO₂ emissions to be an all-time high in 2019

Scientists have been warning over the years about the drastic climate change and global warming. This year, such climate-warming CO2 emissions are expected to set a new high record, proving the predictions of the scientists and painting a frightening picture of the danger we are putting our planet into.

At the end of 2019, fossil fuel will release in an all-time high amount i.e. 36.8 billion metric tons of CO2, which is higher than the last year’s emissions. There is still more use of oil and gas across different regions and thus the levels are expected to climb even more.

A great effect of high emissions is the declining air quality in major cities of the world, like Beijing and New Delhi.
A great effect of high emissions is the declining air quality in major cities of the world, like Beijing and New Delhi.

Some countries are moving towards or prepping to use renewable energies that don’t pose serious threats as fossils and other non-renewable sources to the environment. But this is very limited and most popular in North America and Europe. The rest of the world has still a far way to go. According to environmental scientist Rob Jackson of Stanford University, “Most of the renewables being built today aren’t displacing coal and other fossil fuels — they’re [just] adding new energy.” He published a paper recently with his colleagues and discussed the policies for the climate that can cut and affect the use of fossil fuels. Coal usage has somewhat declined over the years but the rise in usage of other reserves cancel out its minimal decline.

In countries like China and India as well as most of the developing nations, the emissions have been rising over the years and the aftereffects are visible in the declining air quality in the major cities which have led to local health concerns. In the U.S. and Europe, emissions may be on the decline, but more per capita carbon dioxide is produced than other nations.

Also Read: First-Ever Ebola Vaccine is Finally Here

Vikram lander debris spotted by NASA

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Vikram lander debris spotted by NASA

NASA says that it has located the debris site of the Vikram lander which had crashed on the lunar surface in an attempt, by Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), to carry out a soft landing on the moon on September 7.

NASA released images taken from its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) which showed the site of the Vikram lander’s impact and “associated debris field” of the lander scattered over the lunar surface, some 350 miles (600 Km) from the lunar South Pole.

The debris was found by an amateur Indian astronomer, Shanmuga Subramanian, who was scouring the images released by LROC team of the impact site.  

This image shows the Vikram Lander impact point and associated debris field. Credits: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University.

  Comparing the images of the impact site before the Vikram lander crashed and a later picture, there was a disturbance spotted on the lunar terrain.

Vikram lander was the rover onboard Chandrayaan 2 and attempted to carry out a soft landing on the lunar South Pole. While many missions by other nations―US, Russia, and China―have carried out a soft landing on the moon, but none has attempted to land on the lunar South Pole. Chandrayaan 2 had successfully deployed its orbiter into the lunar orbit and subsequently, Vikram lander started its descent. Everything was going as planned when, suddenly and unexpectedly, the ground stations lost control with lander just 2.1 km above the lunar surface.

A Historic Achievement

The live launch was witnessed by an enthusiastic crowd of around 7000, apart from millions of online viewers, at the Sriharikota Space Station, an island on the eastern coast of India. Even though three lunar maneuvers were completed, the lander crashed just before landing. The attempt was lauded and ISRO was widely appreciated around the world.

“I congratulate India and ISRO on its historic attempt to make a successful soft landing of the Vikram Lander at the South Pole of the Moon,” said Namira Salim, who is renowned as the First Pakistani to go to space aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the First Space-line of the world.  “The Chandaryaan 2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud.” Vikram Lander exhibited normal performance up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometers from the moon until ISRO lost signals. 

Also Read: Chandrayaan 2: A Historic Attempt of India for Lunar Landing

Hawking: The Interstellar Genius

Aniqa Mazhar
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Hawking: The Interstellar Genius

Do we need to introduce this name?

Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, author, and Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. His central exploration was in the areas of theoretical cosmology, focusing on the evolution of the Universe, governed by the laws of general relativity. He is best known for his work on black holes. With the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, a theory called ‘Hawking radiation,’ he became the first to set forth a cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Hawking suffered from a rare and life-threatening condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a disease he suffered all of his adult life. The illness started when he was 21 and pursuing his Ph.D. at Cambridge University. For a significant part of his later life, he was almost completely paralyzed and communicated through a speech-generating device. Not succumbing to the despair of the disease, Hawking devoted all his life to his work and research. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge for around three decades and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. For his contribution to his pioneering work in cosmology, he made Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Hawking suffered from a rare and life-threatening condition of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Hawking became a member of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge in 1968, and the discoveries of cosmologist Roger Penrose on Black Hole really fascinated him. He started research on the origin of the Universe.
In 1970, Hawking discovered the ‘Second Law of Black Hole Dynamics,’ which states that the event horizon of a black hole can never get smaller. Along with James M. Bardeen and Brandon Carter, he proposed the four laws of ‘Black Hole Mechanics.’

Hawking visited Moscow in 1973, and his discussions with Yakov Borisovich Zel and Alexei Starobinsky helped him to come up with ‘Hawking Radiation.’ The following year, he became a ‘Fellow of the Royal Society.’
He started to get more recognition for his research and discoveries through his print and TV interviews. In 1975, he was awarded the Eddington Medal and the Pius XI Gold Medal, followed by the Dannie Heineman Prize and the Maxwell Prize.

Hawking was then appointed as a professor with a chair in gravitational physics in 1977 and received the ‘Albert Einstein Medal’ and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford. He gradually started losing control over his speech, and it became increasingly difficult to understand him but that this did not stop him from getting appointed as the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University in 1979.

In 1982, Hawking and Gary Gibbons organized a Nuffield Workshop on the topic ‘The Very Early Universe’ at Cambridge University, which focused principally on the cosmological inflation theory. He published a model, the ‘Hartle-Hawking state’ with Jim Hartle, which stated that before the Big Bang, time did not exist, and the concept of the beginning of the Universe is meaningless.

Hawking received the ‘Albert Einstein Medal’ and an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford

In 1985, he lost his voice after a tracheotomy. As a result of this, he required 24-hour care. His condition caught the attention of a Californian computer programmer who invented a speaking program that could be directed by the head or eye movement.

Hawking gained international prominence for the first time in 1988 with the publication of ‘A Brief History of Time.’ It was meant to be a simplified version of cosmology for the masses and became an instant bestseller.
In 1993, he co-edited a book on Euclidean quantum gravity with Gary Gibbons. A famous collection of essays, interviews, and talk titled ‘Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays’ was published in 1993. It was followed by a six-part television series, ‘Stephen Hawking’s Universe’ and a companion book.

He wrote a bunch of cosmology books that include, The Universe in Nutshell (2001), followed by, A Briefer History of Time (2005), God Created the Integers (2006), God’s Secret Key to the Universe (2007), The Grand Design (2010) and others.

Hawking wrote a bunch of cosmology books and made appearances in popular TV shows as well

He made a constant appearance on television during this period, in documentaries like—‘The Real Stephen Hawking (2001)’, ‘Stephen Hawking: Profile (2002)’, ‘Hawking (2004)’, ‘Stephen Hawking, Master of the Universe (2008)’, etc.

Hawking retired as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in 2009, owing to University rules and regulations. He continued to work as a director of research at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.

Hawking became a ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’ in 1982. He was later honored with many prestigious awards like ‘the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society,’ ‘the Paul Dirac Medal,’ etc.
Other notable honors bestowed upon Hawking include ‘the Wolf Prize,’ ‘Companion of Honor by Her Highness,’ ‘Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize,’ ‘the Copley Medal,’ ‘the Presidential Medal of Freedom,’ ‘the Russian Fundamental Physics Prize.

Hawking’s physical condition increasingly began to deteriorate. He could no longer drive his wheelchair; he required a ventilator at times and was hospitalized several times since 2009. He was closely working with researchers on systems that could translate his brain patterns into switch activations.

Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in Cambridge, England, on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76.

Similar posts: Remembering Dr. Abdus Salam

Nikola Tesla: The 20th Century Innovator

Muhammad Abdullah Khan
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Nikola Tesla: The 20th Century Innovator

Most of us might have heard about the Tesla electric car, manufactured by the Tesla company, and might have thought it as the invention by the 19th-century scientist Nikola Tesla. But the Tesla Company was founded to honor the legendary scientist, more than sixty years after the death of the genius. Tesla was a great scientist whose inventions like Alternating current (AC), a three-phase electric power transmission system, hydro-electric power plant, and electrical transformer, are still in use in one way or another.

Early Life

Based in Smiljan, a small town of the former Austrian Empire, and in modern-day Croatia, Tesla was born on July 10, 1856. He had four other siblings―Dane, Milka, Angelina, and Marica. His mother, Djuka Mandic, although she was a housewife, but was the person who instilled the quest for inventions in the young genius, while he was growing up, through her own small devices for use in the household, during her leisure time.

Tesla’s father, Milutin Tesla, was an orthodox priest and writer in Serbia. He tried to push the young boy to join the priesthood. But the young Tesla had an interest only in the sciences.

Young Tesla had an interest only in the sciences

Career

As the young boy grew older, he showed signs of remarkable imagination and ingenious creativity. He started his study for a career in engineering at the Technical University at Graz, Austria. At Graz, he saw many scientific instruments, such as Gramme Dynamo, a generator, which spurred Tesla to conceive ideas, which he later on applied to develop Alternating current motor. During his stay at the University of Prague, he witnessed many other applications which instilled the juices of creativity in the young mind for his future inventions.

Eddison-Tesla Partnership

In 1884, Nikola Tesla left Europe and set sail for America with little more than clothes on his back and a letter of recommendation to a famous scientific and business mogul Thomas Edison.
Edison hired Tesla in his well-established company, which manufactured DC-based electronics systems and their distribution in the United States and had become a standard. That kickstarted a short journey of scientific collaboration between the two remarkably genius, yet incompatible personalities. The two scientists began working together and made modifications and improvements to Edison’s inventions, but it lasted only in a few months and they parted their ways.

Tesla’s Solo Career as an Inventor

While Edison was a dominant figure with more focus on business strategies and marketing skills and therefore had financial success, Tesla was a simple man with very little know-how and interest in commercial strategy.
Tesla strived to kickstart his solo career and cast around for investors to convert his tentative plans into practical applications. In 1885, he was able to get funding for the Tesla Electric Light Company and started working on to develop an improved arc lighting, and became successful. Unfortunately, he was once again abandoned by his investors and forced out of the joint venture. For a long time, Tesla had to survive by earning his bread through manual labor jobs. Fortunately, he succeeded in getting some funding for his new Tesla Electric company.

Stock certificate for the Tesla Electric Light and Manufacturing Company

Obstacles

Tesla, throughout his career, discovered, designed, and invented ideas for numerous inventions. Unfortunately, most of his ideas, including the dynamos (a generator which worked like batteries) and induction motors, were stolen and officially patented by other inventors. Despite these hardships, throughout his career, Tesla was a pioneer for the discovery of radar technology, X-ray technology, remote control.

He used the AC principle to develope a rotating magnetic field. His most well-known contributions are the Tesla coil and the AC system, which eventually became dominant in the US, and later on, declared as a standardized electric system all over the world. Tesla’s invention caught the attention of an engineer and businessman George Westinghouse, whose company, Westinghouse Corporation, bought the patent for sixty thousand dollars cash and stocks in Westinghouse Corporation.

Remarkable Inventions

In 1895, Tesla designed the first-ever hydro-electric power plant in the United States at the Niagara Falls. This discovery revolutionized the power generation and helped in rapid industrialization powered by cheap electric power.

Tesla invented another remarkable device that would revolutionize the communications systems forever by the end of the 19th century. He developed Tesla coils and laid the foundations for wireless networks, which are still used even today in several radio technologies and wireless radio transmission antennas.

In the early 20th century, Tesla became obsessed with wireless transmission of energy. Around 1900 he began work on one of his bravest but riskiest projects yet: to build a global wireless communication system to transmit information and providing free energy throughout the world utilizing massive electrical towers.

Tesla had an aim to build a global wireless communication system

He started his work by securing funding from a group of prominent investors. However, doubts arose among the investors after a few years of stagnant research with no great achievement. Consequently, Nikola had no choice but to abandon the project and eventually became bankrupt. The staff at his laboratories at Wardenclyffe on Long Island New York was laid off, and the massive tower dismantled and sold for scrap.

Tesla’s legacy

Tesla suffered a nervous breakdown after the failure of this project. His ideas became more and more impractical, and he became an eccentric person spending most of his time with wild pigeons at New York Park.
Miserable and antisocial Tesla spent the last years of his life suffering from a coronary thrombosis and died on January 7, 1947, at the age of 86.

However, Tesla’s legacy remains alive with Hollywood movies made in his honor. A street corner identifying “Nikola Tesla Corner” was installed at the site of his former New York City laboratory.

In 2003, a few engineers founded Tesla Motors, a company in the name of Nikola Tesla, in his Memoriam, intending to develop the world’s first fully electric-powered car.

Read Also: Scientists who knocked down disability barriers

Looking at Last Week’s Planetary Conjunction With The Moon

Scientia
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Looking at Last Week’s Planetary Conjunction With The Moon

Last week, on 28th November, the sky blessed us with beautiful conjunction of Venus and Jupiter with the crescent moon. Did you miss it out because of the cloudy skies or were you so busy as to forget to look at the sky? Don’t worry we have got you covered. Here are some of the stellar planetary parade photos taken by skywatchers and stargazers from around the world!

The planets are seen with the crescent moon in the skies of Quetta, Pakistan (Credit: ‎Muhammad Saleem Bin Akram)
The planets are seen with the crescent moon in the skies of Quetta, Pakistan. (Credit: ‎Muhammad Saleem Bin Akram)
Venus-Moon-Jupiter Trio, Milkyway, Windmill Turbines and their Light, Water and Cold Breeze at Sindh Coastal Highway Wind Corridor. (Credit: Imran Rasheed Photography)
Venus-Moon-Jupiter Trio, Milkyway, Windmill Turbines and their Light, Water and Cold Breeze at Sindh Coastal Highway Wind Corridor. (Credit: Imran Rasheed Photography)
A close up of the Conjunction (Credit: Imran Rasheed Photography)
A close up of the celestial bodies. (Credit: Imran Rasheed Photography)
This shot was taken in Dillon, Montana (Credit: Nathan Kelm)
This shot was taken in Dillon, Montana. (Credit: Nathan Kelm)
The conjunction in the skies of Buenos Aires, Argentina (Credit: coroo.arg)
In the skies of Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Credit: coroo.arg)
A fantastic shot showing the conjunction (seen on the upper left corner) over a busy city (Credit: leimye)
A fantastic shot showing the conjunction (seen on the upper left corner) over a busy city. (Credit: leimye)

About Venus

Venus’ surface is volcanic, covered with plains, high volcanic mountains, and immense furrowed plateaus. Venus has no moons and no rings. The planet’s surface temperature is around 465 degrees Celsius (900 degrees Fahrenheit) — sufficiently hot to liquefy lead. Many scientists believe that water once existed on the planet.

More than 40 spacecraft have visited Venus. In the 1990s, the Magellan mission mapped the planet’s surface and Akatsuki is currently in orbit around it. We already know that Venus’ extreme temperature and acidic atmosphere make it an unlikely place for life.

About Jupiter

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Eleven Earths could fit across Jupiter’s equator. It orbits around 778 million km  (484 million miles) from our Sun. It orbits take ten hours to spin on its axis (a Jovian day) yet it takes around 12 Earth years to finish one orbit of the Sun (a Jovian year).

Jupiter is a gas giant. Its atmosphere primarily comprises of hydrogen and helium. It has more than 75 moons. In 1979, the Voyager mission found Jupiter’s ring framework. All of the four giant planets in our close planetary system have ring systems.

Also Read: Hubble captures a peculiar cosmic image

World AIDS Day: Street Children are the most at-risk group in Pakistan

Scientia
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World AIDS Day: Street Children are the most at-risk group in Pakistan

World AIDS Day, designated on 1 December every year since 1988, is an international day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died of the disease.

AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome) is a pandemic disease caused due to the infection of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes damage to the immune system.

A Burundi woman called Jeanne was the first person to disclose that she was living with HIV, Twenty-five years ago. Today, Jeanne is holding leaders accountable and fighting for the right to health care.

Modern-day medical sciences already found treatments for HIV, and there are various formulas have been also taken to fight against discrimination and to safeguard HIV patients with proper treatments.

Still, there are millions of HIV patients, who still do not have access to tests, treatments, and medications for HIV. So it is important to observe the day. It will act as a reminder for all that HIV still exists and we need to fight together to end this the disease. This year the theme for World Aids Day 2019 is “Ending the HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Community by Community.”

History

World AIDS Day was first observed in 1988. And each year, different organizations across the world bring attention to the HIV epidemic, endeavor to increase HIV awareness and knowledge.

According to World Health Organization, “37.9 million people living with HIV at the end of 2018, 79 percent received testing, 62 percent received treatment, and 53 percent had achieved suppression of the HIV virus with reduced risk of infecting others.”

2.8 million Were children aged 0-18 years. Each day, approximately 980 children became infected with HIV. Nearly 320 children died from AIDS-related causes. Mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention, care, and treatment services.

Street children vulnerable to AIDS

There are approximately 100 million street children across the globe. In Pakistan, an estimated 1.5 million children are living on streets in highly vulnerable conditions.

National AIDS control program conducted detailed research and survey in 2006, in cooperation with Azad Foundation Pakistan related to street children as highly vulnerable group at risk for HIV/ AIDS.

The research was conducted by Dr. Faran Emmanuel – Independent Epidemiologist and principal investigator, Farah Iqbal and Naveed Khan – Co-Investigator. After three years of research the report concluded;

  • In Pakistan, 35% of children just hear about the disease
  • 25% knew that HIV spread through sexual intercourse
  • 17% knew that HIV can also spread through the use of unclean needles and syringes
  • Only 2% knew that blood and bi product can also be a reason
  • An overall 71% of the children did not know of any protective measure
  •  06% of the children had incorrect information regarding ways to protect against HIV

Ratodero out Break

Meanwhile, an outbreak of HIV reported in Ratodero, Larkana Sindh this year, and to date, general screening for HIV has been done 37,272 individuals from the general population in Ratodero.

Till now 1,181 have suspected HIV positive during this screening. There are 941 children and 240 adults.

All suspected HIV cases were referred to the HIV Treatment center for confirmation. To date 754 Children have been confirmed positive and linked to HIV Treatment center. Similarly, 141 adults have been declared HIV positive and linked with HIV treatment center.

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Salam Biopic Review: Reflecting the true end of a tragedy

Owais Siddique
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Salam Biopic Review: Reflecting the true end of a tragedy

Aristotle once said, “The True end of a tragedy is to purify the passion.” Perhaps that’s the best way to describe the life of Dr. Abdul Salam. The makers of Salam – The First ****** Nobel Laureate indulge the audiences in the extraordinary life of the boy who was born without even ordinary privileges.

The documentary starts with the childhood stories of Dr. Salam. How his work ethic was build and the struggle his family goes through to nurture the genius. I especially like the part where audiences were told how his parents identified the intellect inside him and gave him privileged treatment within the family, given the financial constraints. In our childhood, we heard these sorts of stories for foreign scientists, but, regrettably, we have buried the same of our own.

Conventional isn’t the word associated with Dr. Salam, the documentary showcased interviews of his students and colleagues who believe his mind is always exploding with ideas. Though 90% of them are full of non-sense, the remaining 10% is worth winning a Nobel Prize. An exciting incident on that matter was also recorded when Salam sent a scientific paper to famous physicist Wolfgang Pauli which he declared absurd and dismissed it completely. Later, two physicists published the same idea and won the Nobel Prize for it. Salam obviously disappointed took it comically and always advised his student to “Never listen to grand old men.” Wolfgang Pauli later did apologize to Salam, and it all becomes a history.

The documentary also shares some personal stories of the Laureate

Eventually, he received Nobel Prize in 1979 for his theory in the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles along with two other scientists. He was an advisor to the Ministry of Science from 1960 till 1974. It was quite surprising to know about his contributions to laying groundworks for the program that build up and lead to the attainment of nuclear deterrence of Pakistan. It is quite unfortunate that such notable work has been systematically removed from the books of history.

A strong force invoked when a populist leader, Z. A Bhutto in a constitutional amendment declared Ahmadiyya’s non-muslims. Later on, Gen. Zia also passed the legislation on that amendment. It was he believe that whole Ahmadiyya’s community had been downgraded to 2nd level citizens at once. This impacted him to the core, and he was pushed to part his ways from the government in 1974. The environment in Pakistan had isolated him and made him moved abroad permanently.

Dr. Salam Founded the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy in 1964, He devoted his later life for the development of the ICTP. His passion for Pakistan was no secret, and according to his son, a handful of government officials stayed in touch discreetly with Dr. Salam. Later on, after his Nobel Prize achievement, the Government of Pakistan awarded him the highest Civilian award in his recognition. This reflects the bigotry and hypocrisy of our leaders how distinguished scientist from Pakistan was treated due to intolerance and religious extremism.

A close-up shot of Salam’s tombstone

Abdul Salam remained the champion of science and was the protagonist in the story of theoretical and particle physics. It is a matter of great disenchantment of how his intellectual contributions were made controversial due to his religious belief and presented him as an antagonist to the nation of Pakistan. This is very well elaborated through facts in this documentary, and all praise goes to the makers for portraying it to precision.

I think the only criticism goes to this documentary is I expect more from it on the scientific part, I wish there were more on how his contributions help the scientific community. There is also rather some debatable choice of religious extremism incidents portrayed, which I feel is twisted in reflecting an accurate background of extremism in Pakistan.

All in all, it was a well-rounded documentary that helps us understand why we need to cherish our heroes instead of abandoning them. To this day, I can say this is the most comprehensive documentation of Salam’s life and his passion for the people of Pakistan.

Director: Anand Kamalakar Rating: 4 stars out of 05

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Scientists who knocked down Disability Barriers

Saadeqa Khan
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Scientists who knocked down Disability Barriers

Stephen Hawking, one of the most accomplished scientists of our time for whom we don’t need to scroll social media or follow science news. But what made him the scientists of the twentieth century? His scientific discoveries on the black holes and parallel universes, his dozens of books on challenging scientific topics, or his inspiration for millions of differentially abled people around the globe?

Hawking’s life was a juxtaposition of sparkling intellect and a deceased body. He was like a testament that “disability is not inability” and that differentially abled people could get anything once they hook to. Stephen Hawking caught by a debilitating motor neuron decease at the age of 21, gradually his nerve cease functioning, and he was trapped in the body, but his mind was fully active and functionally till his date on 14th March 2018. He lived around 50 years more as was early diagnosed and estimated by his doctors that he can live only two or three years. Later, Hawking was entirely dependent on a team and electric chair with a speech synthesizer to communicate to the world outside.

One of his significant contributions merely is being visible when the voice of differentially abled persons were missing in popular culture. Despite his severe disability, he made appearances in popular science shows like Star Trek and Big Bang theory, his life dramatized in “Theory of Everything,” a movie based on real-life events and his relationship with his first wife, Jane Hawking. He breathed fully and was an incredible exemplar of there being no boundary to human endeavor.

Thomas Eddison was the greatest inventor of his time. He is well-known as the ” father of electricity,” caught by the fever that ended on complete deafness of both ears. Eddison converted his medical condition into his greatest strength. He believed that his mostly silent existence helps him to wholly absorbed in his research with no external distraction.

Einstein, the genius of all time, suffered a learning disability, and could not speak appropriately until age four. In school, Einstein was often confronted by his teachers for his inability to grasp the concept. It is widely considered that he suffered through dyslexia. Alone, Einstein, and Stephen Hawking, and Eddison are enough to show that ” Physics is the heritage of the disabled.”

There remains an extensive list of scientists with disabilities includes Gustav Kirchoff, Charles Steinmetz, Edwin Krebs, John Forbes Nash, Jr(an acclaimed mathematician), Ralph Bruan, Geerat Vermeij, Farida Bedwei, and Leonardo Da Vinci. They stand as an inspiration to those who are physically perfect but unable to show enthusiasm toward their career and life.

In the modern era, millions of other scientists have been contributing to high-level scientific research around the globe with their severe disability and health conditions. Only in the United States, half million people serving in STEM have some sort of disability. Their medical conditions challenged them to tackle scientific problems uniquely and differently.

However, scientific research is barely designed to meet the basic necessities of scientists with disabilities. This situation can be understandable in Asian and third world countries like India and Pakistan, where STEM research hardly puts in Government’s’ agenda, but the fact is that differentially abled scientists have been facing hurdles in US and European countries as well. Alone in the United States, 20 percent population and 40 percent worldwide are suffering and the countdown is intensifying each day after growing cases of mental illness.

Despite the obstacles these peoples face daily in their education, research, and career moves, they are incredibly genius, hardworking and devoted to their profession and hundreds of them have demonstrated as successful only because they have access to modern technology, emotional and institutional support, and better health facilities.

In western societies, disable persons are fully getting benefits that come from their differences even a couple of scientists with mental illness have shown that thinking differently was instrumental in playing their role as a researcher. Having said that, they were able to use their creative skills with emotional weight to make case sensitive decisions with their fragile health conditions.

There are a handful of examples in Western societies that disability cannot define a person and his capabilities. The personal problems these scientists encounter daily spur them to tackle technical issues in a novel way and they were able to play their part in making this world a better place.

Also, read Life of Stephen Hawking through pictures

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