Top 10 Best Scientists Of Pakistan | Best Pakistani Scientists
Famous Scientists of Pakistan. Science plays a vital role in our lives. And Science is present almost in all our daily activities such as health, communication, transport, etc. Science produces knowledge. It enhances the way of learning. It also provides medicine for the cure of various diseases. It provides modern weapons as well. Pakistan has the world’s most intelligent scientists who have done remarkable tasks for their nation. But unfortunately, we have forgotten our scientists and real heroes. In this blog, I am going to tell you about the top 10 famous scientists of Pakistan who have done a lot of things for the people who needed them. So check the list:
1. Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan
Abdul Qadeer Khan, also known as A. Q. Khan, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer. He was a key figure in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program and is colloquially known as the “Father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program”. He is a national hero in Pakistan. Abdul Qadeer Khan was born on 1 April 1936, in Bhopal, a city in the erstwhile British Indian princely state of Bhopal State, and now the capital city of Madhya Pradesh. He is a Muhajir of Urdu-speaking Pashtun origin. After learning of India’s “Smiling Buddha” nuclear test in 1974, Khan joined his nation’s clandestine efforts to develop atomic weapons when he founded the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976 and was both its chief scientist and director for many years. In April 1976, Khan joined the atomic bomb program and became part of the enrichment division, initially collaborating with Khalil Qureshi – a physical chemist.
Khan died on 10 October 2021, at the age of 85, after being transferred to a hospital in Islamabad with lung problems. He was given a state funeral at the Faisal Mosque before being buried at the H-8 graveyard in Islamabad.
Awards:
- Nishan-i-Imtiaz (1996;1999)
- Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1989)
2. Ansar Pervaiz
Ansar Pervaiz is a Pakistani scientist and a nuclear engineer who was the former chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), and former chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He was born in Lahore, and Ansar Pervaiz received his early and intermediate education there. In 1972, Ansar Pervaiz received his BSc in Physics from Punjab University. The same year, he attended Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad where he secured a gold medal followed by a double MSc in physics and Nuclear technology. In 1974, he went to the United States for higher studies where he received his Ph.D. Degree in Nuclear engineering and Nuclear reactor technology in 1977. Pervaiz is widely given credit for establishing nuclear engineering, nuclear physics, and nuclear technology institutes within Pakistan.
Pervaiz is a strong supporter of peaceful civilian-used nuclear technology in Pakistan he is also supervising the construction of a second atomic power plant, Karachi nuclear power plant-II, Karachi. Pervaiz also established Nuclear medicines centers and cancer research centers in PAEC.
Awards:
- Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1998)
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3. Abdullah Sadiq
Abdullah Sadiq is a Pakistani physicist who was born in 1940 in Peshawar City. He did his early education at Islamia Collegiate School. Therefore, after his matriculation from Islamia Collegiate School, Sadiq joined Islamia College Peshawar in 1958. Influenced by Abdus Salam and his work, in 1962, Sadiq obtained his BSc in physics and a minor in mathematics. In 1967, Abdullah Sadiq attended Peshawar University, where he joined the physics department as a graduate student, in 1969, he received his MSc in physics under the supervision of physicist Abdul Majid Mian. He went to the United States for higher studies in 1971. He got his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics under the supervision of Leo Kadanoff from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US.
Abdullah Sadiq is a Pakistani physicist as well as an ICTP laureate who received the ICTP Prize in the honor of Nikolay Bogolyubov, in the fields of mathematics and solid-state physics in 1987.
Awards:
- Sitara-i-Imtiaz
- ICTP Prize (1987)
4. Aban Marker Kabraji
Aban Marker Kabraji (born 12 March 1953, Bombay (now Mumbai), India), is a Pakistani biologist and scientist of Parsi origin. She was regional director of the Asia Regional Office of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, until early 2021 when she retired from her position. Previously, she was the country representative for the IUCN Pakistan office. Kabraji provided strategic leadership for the Asia Regional Office of the IUCN in Bangkok, Thailand from 1998 to 2021. This included oversight of 11 country offices with nearly 300 staff and some 70 environmental initiatives. Kabraji was with IUCN since 1988 when she joined the Pakistan office as a country representative. Earlier in her career, Kabraji was involved in the conservation of the endangered green turtle population off the coast of Karachi and Baluchistan.
5. Qasim Mehdi
S. Qasim Mehdi was a renowned Pakistani molecular biologist who worked in population genetics. He was a founding member of the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) with a prominent role in the initiation of this project at Stanford University. Mehdi was born in Lucknow, India, where he completed his B.S. at Lucknow University. He received his MS from MIT and then a D.Phil. (doctorate) degree from the Oxford University, where he had mentors like Nobel laureates Sir Hans Krebs and Rodney Porter. His doctoral education was followed by a series of fellowships at the Oxford and the Wellcome Trust, until appointed by Stanford University as a research associate in 1976 and later a senior research fellow, affiliated with the Stanford University Departments of Chemistry and Radiology and Stanford Cancer Biology Research Labs. During his last years, he had been working on charting a direction for the future of biomedical research in Pakistan. Mehdi died peacefully in Lahore on 28 September 2016 after a protracted illness.
Awards:
- Hilal-i-Imtiaz
- Sitara-i-Imtiaz
6. Atta-ur-Rahman
Atta-ur-Rahman was born on 22 September 1942 in Delhi, British India (today’s Republic of India) into an Urdu-speaking academic family. His grandfather, Sir Abdur Rahman, was a vice-chancellor of the University of Delhi (1934–38) who briefly served as a judge at the Madras High Court. Atta-ur-Rahman NI, FRS, FPAS is a Pakistani organic chemist and is currently serving as Professor Emeritus at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi and as Chairman of the PM Task Force on Science and Technology. He is also the President of the Network of Academies of Sciences in Countries of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (NASIC). After returning to Pakistan, he contributed to the development of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi and transformed the landscape of higher education, science, and technology in Pakistan.
Awards:
- Nishan-i-Imtiaz (2002)
- Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1998)
- Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1991)
- Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1983)
- UNESCO Prize (1999)
- Austria Order of Merit
7. Faheem Hussain
Faheem Hussain was a Pakistani theoretical physicist. Faheem Hussain was born in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, British India in 1942. His family moved to West Pakistan shortly before the Partition of India on 14 August 1947. He graduated from St. Anthony’s High School, Lahore, in 1955 and then enrolled in Forman Christian College. After receiving his double BSc(Hons) in Mathematics and Physics from Forman Christian College in 1960, he moved to Great Britain. There, he attended Chelsea College, London, and completed another B.S. (Hons) in physics in 1963. He attended Imperial College, London where physicist Abdus Salam was also teaching.
He was a professor of physics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). A research scientist in the field of superstring theory at the National Center for Physics, Hussain made contributions to the fields of superstring and string theory. He was the first Pakistani physicist to publish a research paper in the field of superstring theory.
Awards:
- Royal Society Award (1968)
- Spirit of Abdus Salam Award (2016)
8. Tasneem Zehra Hussain
Tasneem Zehra Husain is a Pakistani theoretical physicist. Husain received her early education in Lahore. At the age of eleven, Husain dropped out of regular school and was homeschooled. Husain sat for her O Levels (privately, through the British Council) at the age of 13 and went on to take her A Levels at the age of 15. During these years, Husain wrote extensively. Her articles were featured in various national newspapers as well as the magazine Newsline.
She is one of few Pakistani women to obtain a doctorate in physics, and the first Pakistani woman string theorist. An eminent scientist, she has been a guest speaker at various schools and colleges in an effort to promote science and technology in Pakistan. Husain has represented Pakistan at the Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, and led the Pakistan team to the World Year of Physics (WYP) Launch Conference in Paris. In 2013, Husain was invited by the Cambridge Science Festival to be the moderator for a panel of eminent scientists.
Awards:
- Vice-Chancellor’s gold medal
9. Nergis Mavalvala
Nergis Mavalvala is a Pakistani-American astrophysicist. Mavalvala was born in Lahore in 1968 but was primarily raised in Karachi, Pakistan. She attended the Convent of Jesus and Mary, Karachi, where she received her O-Level and A-Level qualifications. She moved to the United States in 1986 and enrolled at Wellesley College. She is the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she is also the Dean of the university’s School of Science. She was previously the Associate Head of the university’s Department of Physics. Mavalvala is best known for her work on the detection of gravitational waves in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project.
Awards:
- Joseph F. Keithley Award For Advances in Measurement Science (2013)
10. Abdul Majid
Abdul Majid is a Pakistani astrophysicist and scientist in the field of space technology. He is a former chairman of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission from 1997 to 2001. He had made significant contributions to Pakistan’s space program. During his tenure as SUPARCO Administrator, Pakistan launched its two Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which were masterminded and developed by him. He also initiated a satellite launch vehicle (SLV) project at SUPARCO. He retired from SUPARCO in 2001 as a chief scientist. Since his retirement, he has been inactive from Pakistan’s space program and currently resides in Karachi where he lives a very quiet life there.
Awards:
- Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1999)
