Brian Cox visits Imperial to honour Abdus Salam

Science broadcaster Brian Cox was joined by physicists from around the world at Imperial on Monday, to celebrate the life and work of Abdus Salam, the deceased Pakistani Nobel Laureate and Imperial College professor.

Speaking to a packed auditorium at Imperial’s Great Hall and thousands of online viewers, Cox delivered a keynote speech on the theme of unification in the Standard Model of Particle Physics.

He was accompanied by Professor Atish Dabholkar, Director of the International Centre of Theoretical Physics, which Salam established in 1964 to nurture research in developing nations.

Last June, Imperial renamed its South Kensington library in honour of Salam, who co-founded its Theoretical Physics research group in 1956.

The name change was part of Imperial’s response to the History Group Report, which investigated the College’s past, and recommended that Salam and other Imperial scientists from underrepresented backgrounds be ‘widely celebrated’.

To accompany Cox’s lecture on Monday, the College’s Queen’s Tower Rooms hosted an exhibition showcasing artefacts from Salam’s life. His Nobel Prize medal was on display together with letters of correspondence from Paul Dirac – who was Salam’s PhD supervisor – and other notable physicists.

PhD students at Imperial’s Theoretical Physics group delivered presentations on topics including Electroweak Baryogenesis, Black Holes and Holograms, and Modified Gravity.

The winning entries from the Salam Essay Contest were also on display, with Lahore Grammar School’s Zimal Cheema taking home the top prize for his work entitled, A Turban’s Triumph and Tragedy. Salam himself was a prolific writer, and authored many essays during his lifetime. 

Read more: Monday’s events were a fitting tribute to one of Imperial’s greatest scientists, says Science Editor Taylor Pomfret