beauty, symmetry and harmony
beauty, symmetry and harmony
** SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 15 JANUARY 2025 **
WHO WAS ABDUS SALAM?
Abdus Salam was Pakistan’s first Nobel laureate and remains, to date, the only scientist who has this honor. 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 was more than just a brilliant scientist. He believed that science should be equally accessible to everyone around the globe and was immensely dedicated to the cause of spreading knowledge. In a divided world, Salam set out to build common ground. While continuing to be active at the forefront of research, he worked tirelessly to establish the International Center of Theoretical Physics (ICTP), where scientists from developing countries could enjoy facilities not otherwise available to them, and interact on an equal footing with their counterparts in the developed world. “Scientific thought and its creation is the common and shared heritage of mankind,” he said. The Center (which has since been renamed the Abdus Salam ICTP in his honor) is a testament to his passionate advocacy of that sentiment.
Salam was the best champion Pakistani science has ever known. He was the founding director of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the initiator of the NathiaGali Summer College (an international conference designed to bring leading scientists from all over the world to Pakistan).
In addition to these high-profile projects and his cutting-edge research, Salam also concerned himself with less glamorous, grassroots, issues like the welfare of farmers. He was the one who proposed the tube-well scheme to help solve Pakistan’s problems with water-logging and salinity.
Salam was incredibly well-read, well-spoken and had a vast range of interests. With his breadth of vision and his generosity of spirit, Salam has left an indelible mark on history.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS CONTEST
Biographies are not merely historical records to be passively absorbed. If engaged with actively, they can be blueprints for possibility.
When we are awestruck by the magnitude of someone’s achievements, it is tempting to hold them at a distance - to consider them different somehow, from ourselves. But in so doing, we deny ourselves the opportunity of learning from their stories, of taking them on as mentors we may never otherwise meet.
The people we admire cannot be reduced to a list of their accomplishments, even if these seem superhuman. Behind the ‘what’ of each worthy achievement, lies the ‘how’ and the ‘why’: the setbacks faced, the challenges navigated, the perseverance and the drive. If we look for it, there is a personal message for us in every tale of human triumph.
In his 70 years on Earth, Salam had many rich and varied experiences. His story is more compelling, more fantastic and more inspiring than most others. As his biographer, Nigel Calder put it:
“Here is a wonderfully romantic story of a young lad in a turban from a market town in the Punjab, that nobody had ever heard of, who became a leader in physics and faced up to politicians as a champion of the world’s poor. He wore the same kind of turban as he had worn as child, to collect his Nobel Prize from the King of Sweden.”
No matter what you want to achieve in your own life, odds are you can learn something by studying Salam’s.
Hence, this contest.
SALAM & IMPERIAL COLLEGE
Imperial College London was Salam’s academic home for much of his professional career. It is where he did his Nobel Prize winning research and where he founded and directed the Theoretical Physics Group, recently recognized as the Abdus Salam Centre for Theoretical Physics.
To honour his contributions to science and the promotion of science to the developing world, Imperial College London hosted a day of Abdus Salam Celebrations on January 29th 2024 - what would have been his 98th birthday. Several activities took place throughout the day, to excite the public’s imagination around theoretical physics and to raise awareness about Salam’s legacy.
The celebrations included the unveiling of the newly renamed Abdus Salam Library, engagement talks by public figures Brian Cox, Tasneem Z. Husain and Atish Dabholkar (Director, ICTP), and the creation of a Salam Documentary.
The inaugural Salam Essay contest was conceived as a way to include the children of Pakistan in these festivities. The winners were announced, and the entries displayed, during the historical Salam exhibition that took place on the Imperial College campus that day (and is now archived online).
CONTEST
Writing is thinking. The process of writing can help shape and sharpen your ideas. To that end, here is a little fragment Salam inscribed as a reminder to himself, in one of his many notebooks.
“To write, to learn to write, to convey to others the vision of your knowledge, your learning, your wisdom.”
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.
If you want, you can start right now.
Write an essay (up to 1000 words) about phenomena that would seem unconnected to the casual observer - the greater the apparent disconnect, the better - and show us how, through careful consideration, you were able to perceive hidden commonalities.
TIMELINE
1 November, 2024 Open to Submission
15 January, 2025 SUBMISSION DEADLINE 00:00 PST
29 January, 2025 Winners announced. Winning essays published on the Imperial College London website.
ELIGIBILITY AND ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Participants must be between 14 and 19 years of age, currently residing in Pakistan.
The content of the essay must be original, and written solely by the participant. AI-generated content is not allowed, neither are co-authors.
Entries must be submitted in English. A word limit of 400 words will be strictly enforced. Only one essay may be submitted by each contestant.
You own the copyright to your writing and give us permission to publish your story online. Imperial College London will attribute all works and ideas.
FORMAT:
Submission Format:
Page size: 8 ½ x 11-inch page, 1-inch margins. Include page numbers.
Text: size 12pt Arial or Times New Roman font only.
Spacing: Double spaced.
Essays will be judged anonymously, so the title page should include ONLY your name, date of birth, school, grade, mailing address and email address. The essay itself should start on the second page, and be no longer than 400 words.
The essay should be emailed in .docx or .pdf format to salam.essay@gmail.com before 00:00 PST on 15th January 2025.
Please go over your essay thoroughly, checking for typos and other errors, before submitting it. Edits and resubmissions will not be allowed. Once your essay is submitted, you should receive a confirmation email saying your submission has been received. If you do not receive this email within 48 hours of submission, please check your spam/junk mail folders before contacting us.
EVALUATION CRITERION:
Entries will be separated into two groups, based on the contestant’s age. There is a category for students between the ages of 14 and 16, and one for students between the ages of 17 and 19. Both will be judged separately, and three prizes will be awarded in each age bracket.
A panel of experts will rate the entries according to how interesting, creative and relevant they are. Essays will be evaluated for clarity and originality. Your writing should reflect your personality and your unique perspective. We want to see you grapple with the topic, consider it deeply and justify your conclusions.
We are looking for essays that are an easy and enjoyable read. Keep in mind the fact that simple language makes far more of an impact than obscure words and elaborate sentence constructions.
As a case in point, here is an anecdote from Salam’s own student life.
As his command of English improved, Salam began experimenting with fancy words and phrases, without first checking their proper meaning or context, and peppering his texts with quotations. Despite his teacher’s warning, he found this fun and stubbornly continued. When exam time came, he duly lost five points for each wrong word, with disastrous effects on his performance, and the teacher read out Salam’s efforts to the entire school. Humiliated, Salam finally complied with the teacher’s instructions. But he did not bear a grudge. Later he said ‘I feel that it was the proper medicine administered to me. The net result of this shock therapy was that I stopped using difficult words altogether.’
- Gordon Fraser, in Cosmic Anger.
The ‘shock therapy’ of course was rather drastic, but those were different times and different norms prevailed. The methods notwithstanding, the underlying message holds: words have power.
Use them intentionally.
JUDGEMENT AND PRIZES:
Our jury consists of scientists, writers, and members of Abdus Salam’s family.
Essays deemed offensive in any way will be immediately disqualified. Offensive content includes, but is not limited to, inappropriate language, and statements that denigrate specific groups of people. The selection of the Winners is at the sole and absolute discretion of the judges. All decisions are final.
Winners will be announced on 29 January 2025.
Winning entries will be published on the Imperial College website. Winners will be awarded certificates, as well as a set of books on Abdus Salam and on Theoretical Physics.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright: By submitting an entry, the Entrant hereby grants Imperial College London permissions to post the essay in its entirety, or any excerpts thereof, for publication online and for internal distribution in perpetuity, in any and all media now known or hereafter invented.
Original work only: By submitting an essay, the Entrant represents and warrants that the essay is the Entrant's own creation and is 100% original work; is not subject to, and does not infringe upon, the rights of any third parties, including without limitation, copyright, trademark or privacy or publicity rights; and is not defamatory, obscene or otherwise illegal.
Identification: All Entrants must have a valid email address and must not misrepresent who they are. In case of dispute as to identity, the entry will be declared made by the authorized account holder of the email address from which the essay is submitted.
RESOURCES:
An increased access to information is among the many advantages of the current age, so you will find countless articles about Abdus Salam, online and in print, and many videos that are freely available. The challenge you will face – in researching this essay, and indeed in any other matter you choose to focus on – is to assess the quality of the information you are faced with. Make sure to check your sources. It is your responsibility to ascertain that your essay is not based on an incorrect anecdote, a misreported story, or someone else’s analysis. Your writing should reflect the conclusions you come to, based on the facts of Salam’s life and science, and not opinions borrowed from others.
That said, here are some resources to start you off on your search:
Hassan, G. & Lai, C.H. (1983) Ideals and Realities: Selected Essays of Abdus Salam. World Scientific.
Singh, J. (1992) Abdus Salam. Penguin.
Duff, M. (2008) Salam +50 – Proceedings of the Conference. Imperial College Press.
Fraser, G. (2008) Abdus Salam, the First Muslim Nobel Scientist. Oxford University Press.
Kamran, M. (2013) The Inspiring Life of Abdus Salam. University of the Punjab.
Brink, L., Duff, M. & Phooa, K.K. ed (2017) Memorial Volume on Abdus Salam’s 90th Birthday. World Scientific.
