Tahir Hussain (physicist)

Not to be confused with director and actor Tahir Hussain.
Tahir Hussain
Born 1928
Aligarh, Aligarh District, State of Uttar Pradesh, British Indian Empire
Died 2010
Islamabad, Pakistan
Residence Lahore, Punjab
Citizenship Pakistan
Nationality Pakistani
Fields Nuclear physics
Institutions Government College University (GCU)
High Tension Nuclear Laboratory (HTNL)
Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics (CASP)
University of Azad Kashmir (UAK)
Ministry of Education of Pakistan (MEP)
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)
Alma mater Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)
Government College University (GCU)
Oxford University (OU)
Doctoral advisor Mark Oliphant
Other academic advisors Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry
Notable students Ishfaq Ahmad
Known for Pakistani Atomic Program and his work in Long-lived fission product, Hypertriton, and Island of inversion in physics.
Notable awards Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (1965)

Tahir Hussain (1923–2010) was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and an emeritus professor of nuclear physics at the Government College University whose research was engaged in Long-lived fission product and Electrostatic nuclear accelerators. As an eminent educator and scientist, he has mentored noted Pakistani physicists at the Government College University and is considered one of the noted physicist in his country.[1]

Life and education

Born in Aligarh, Hussain received his education from Aligarh University where he received his Bachelor (B.S.) and Master's degree (MSc) with distinction in physics from there.[1] After the Partition of India, he declined the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's offer to join Physics Laboratories of India. Instead, after personally being requested by Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah, he along with his mentor Dr. Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, migrated to Pakistan in 1948.[2]

Academic career

At first he taught physics at Government College, Lahore, and after some time, proceeded to Oxford University and did PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1954. After his PhD, he came back to Pakistan where he joined Government College University.[3] In 1954, he along with dr. R. M. Chaudhry founded the "Center For Advance Studies in Physics (CASP). In 1964, he was elevated as the Head of the Physics Department whereas, in 1965, he became a director of Center For Advance Studies in Physics (CASP).[4]

Public service

In 1965, after the retirement of dr. R.M. Chaudhry, he subsequently became a head of High Tension Laboratory and continued the research and work of his mentor. In 1968, while at the Dr. Tahir Hussain was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Azad Kashmir University, Muzaffarabad. Thereafter, he was appointed Chairman of Literacy and Mass Education for some time.[5] Dr. Tahir was associated with the Ministry of Education of Pakistan as Consultant for Science and also worked as chairman, USA Education Foundation. He has published a number of research papers in journals of international repute.[6] Dr. Tahir Hussain has contributed in the foundation and development of the first Nuclear Research Laboratory.[5] In the High Tension Laboratory, scientists like Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, Dr. Mansoor and others worked under his supervision. He also had supervised the undergraduate and post graduate education of renowned nuclear scientist and physicist dr. Ishfaq Ahmad.[5]

Research in physics

After the retirement of his mentor, Hussain became a director of High Tension Laboratory (HTL) in 1965. He continued his research in Electrostatic nuclear accelerators and, also trained a number of young Pakistani scientists in the field of nuclear technology.[7] In 1972, he was delegated by his student Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad to participate in Kahuta Project. As a senior scientist at PAEC, he began in research in Electrostatic nuclear accelerators. He served as senior research scientist at the PARR-Reactor, and was significantly involved in mass calculations in isotopic radiation and ionization nuclear and atomic energy.[8] Later, he focused his research in Long-lived fission products where he published investigative papers in peer journals. He also performed an experiment on 93Zr, an element that produced at a relatively high yield of about 6% but its decay is 7.5 time slower than 99Tc. In 1977, Hussain then joined Centre for Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab. In 1983, he then rejoined his alma mater as a professor emeritus of nuclear physics in 1977.

Bibliography

Quotes

Awards

Notes and references

  1. 1 2 http://www.nazariapak.info/famous-pakistanis/scientist/drtahir.asp
  2. Asim, Khalid Mahmood (30 January 2003). "Dr. Tahir Hussain". Khalid Mahmood Asim. Nazaria-i-Pakistan Trust. Retrieved 2010.
  3. Asim, K.M. (2001), Dr. Tahir Hussain, retrieved 2010
  4. "Center For Advance Studies in Physics (CASP)". Government College University press. Chief Librarian GC University Library. 2001. Retrieved 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 http://nazariapak.info/famous-pakistanis/Scientists.html#tahir
  6. Asim, K.M (2001), Prominent Scientists of Pakistan
  7. Ashok, Kapur. "1953–1959:The Origins and Early History of Pakistani Nuclear Activities". Pakistan's Nuclear Development. New York: Croom Helm, 1987. p. 36.
  8. Rehman, Shahid-Ur- (October 1972), The Nuclear Physics Group at PAEC Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, May 01, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.