Asghar Qadir

Asghar Qadir was born in Simla (now Shimla) of British Indian Empire in 1946 to a middle-class family.[4] After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Qadir's family migrated to Lahore, West Pakistan, where they were settled in a house provided by the Government of Pakistan. In 1963, Qadir travelled to United Kingdom on a Commonwealth scholarship which he applied and qualified for. In 1963, Qadir attended the University of London and received his BSc(Hons) in Mathematics from the University of London in 1967 under the direction of mathematician Professor Oliver Penrose.[4]

The same year, he became an A.R.S.C and also obtained his BS in Physics and DIC in Mathematics.[4] In 1969, Qadir pursued his MSc in Mathematics, followed by PhD in Mathematical physics and Theory of relativity with the specialisation in Twistor theory, under the supervision of Roger Penrose in 1971.[5] He pioneered the mathematical contributions to the development of Special relativity and the twistor theory, which is the approach to the problems of fundamental physics pioneered by Roger Penrose.[5]

Qadir became a research associate and fellow at the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory (it is now known as Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)) where he continued his research in the field of advanced computational mathematics.[1] There, he worked in a complex mathematical applications arise in the theory of nuclear fission at the ISIS neutron source – a neutron scattering facility that mathematically studies the structure and behaviour of nuclear materials in a fission process.[1] However, in early 1971, he came back to Pakistan and joined Quaid-e-Azam University as a research associate.[4] In 1982, he became associate professor and then subsequently became a chairman of the department of mathematics in 1986.[4]

While in Pakistan, in the midst of the Indo-Pak War of 1971, Qadir was serving as a senior research associate at the University of Islamabad. After the Multan meeting, held on 20 January 1972, Qadir's colleagues and peers had quietly disappeared from campus.[6] Qadir's close friend Riazuddin invited by him to Nilore to continue and carry out his advanced research at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). As an eminent and noted mathematician, Qadir was given task to calculate critical mass and the physics cross section calculations.[7] Qadir, at first, adopted the Monte Carlo method for evaluating complicated mathematical integrals that arise in the theory of nuclear chain reactions.[8] The mathematical calculations were brought up to Riazuddin, but Riazuddin already adopted the method earlier. Despite of Riazuddin's and his calculations, Qadir then approached onto a better method to develop the fission device.

He then suggested to adopt the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm using the Monte Carlo integration that arises in the theory of nuclear fusion and thermonuclear fission that can improve the intensity and frequency of the highly compressed shock waves, using the uranium reflector in a nuclear device.[9] Then, Qadir opted the Pati–Salam model for solving the fission problem and suggested that the Salam's model can be used to develop an effective boosted fissionable reflector in a device.[10] Qadir then continued to develop mathematical models and to evaluate critical mass problems. Riazuddin introduced Qadir to Salam where Salam encourage Qadir to research in mathematical physics in more depth. Under Riazuddin and Salam, Qadir specialised in the theory of Special relativity, mathematics of particle physics, and mathematical economics including quantum economics.

In 1976, Qadir joined Quaid-e-Azam University's Department of Mathematics as an associate professor.[4] In 1983, Qadir became chairman of the Department of Mathematics at the Quaid-i-Azam University.[4] In 1986, Riazuddin invited Qadir to Trieste, Italy to join International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) where he carried out his research in special and general theory of relativity. At ICTP, he taught the advanced course of differential equations, Special functions, Upper and lower bounds on Entropy and the Number Theory.[4] In 1988, after researching at ICTP under Abdus Salam, Qadir re-joined Qau and became full professor of Mathematics.[4]

In 1989, Qadir published a book on Special relativity through World Scientific. Qadir provided simple representation of details of calculations and its extension into theory of motion. Through his text book, Qadir briefly discussed and introduced the Special Relativity for extension into General Relativity.[11]

In 1993, he was asked by the President, Ghulam Ishaq Khan (late), to teach in the then newly founded research institute at Topi, Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology. In 1994, he went to Saudi Arabia where he visited his lifelong friend Riazuddin where, on his friend's recommendation, joined King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals where he served as a chairman of Department of Mathematics and Statistics.[12]

In 1998, Qadir came back to Pakistan and re-joined Quaid-e-Azam University as an associate professor of mathematics.[7] The same year, Qadir joined the PAEC and became director-general of the Mathematical Physics Group where he was an instrumental for leading the mathematical studies in the foundation of mathematical physics.[7] Qadir became involved in a team preparing the nuclear device in Chagai and eye-witnessed the country's first nuclear tests (See Chagai-I and Chagai-II) where he was the director of the team leading the mathematical calculations to determine the yield.[7] As part of his contribution, the Government of Pakistan conferred Qadir with civilian award, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and earned the national fame.[7] In 1999, Qadir became the Dean of Faculty of Natural Sciences which he continued till 2000.[4] In 2004, he served as the head of the Department of Mathematics at the Quaid-e-Azam University. Recently, he moved to Rawalpindi and joined National University of Sciences and Technology as the director of Center for Advanced Mathematics and Physics.

• Hilal-i-Imtiaz, Government of Pakistan (2008)
• Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Government of Pakistan (1999)
• Gold Medal, Pakistan Academy of Sciences (1996)
• Khwarizmi First Prize, by Government of Iran (1995)
• Prize, National Book Council of Pakistan, (1991)
• Senior Fulbright Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA, (1987)
• Fulbright Hayes Award (1979)
• First prize in General Knowledge Contest for High School Students (1961);
• ISESCO Award for Mathematics (2003)

• Senior research fellow at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), from 1980 to 1994
• Joint secretary at Al-Kindi Society for the Advancement of the Philosophy of Science, Islamabad, Pakistan, (1980)
• Associate member and senior associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 1980–1999
• Life member and vice-president, Albert Einstein Society (Pakistan Chapter) (1985 to date)
• Life member, joint secretary and secretary, Pakistan Physical Society. (1992 and 1993)
• Life member and president, Fulbright Alumni Association, (1992–1993)

• International Symposium on Experimental Gravitation (1994) by Munawar Karim and Asghar Qadir
• 5th International Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs (1990)
• Relativity: An Introduction to the Special Theory by Asghar Qadir
• 12th Regional Conference On Mathematical Physics (2008) by Aslam, M Jamil, Hussain, Faheem, Qadir, Asghar
• Gravitational Wave Sources May Be "Further" Than We Think by Asghar Qadir
• On Quantum Effects Near a Black Hole Singularity (2008) by Asghar Qadir, Asghar, Azad A. Siddiqui
• Mathematical physics: proceedings of the 12th Regional Conference by Riazuddin, Asghar Qadir, Faheem Hussain, Hamid Saleem, M. Jamil Aslam.

• Roger Penrose
• Riazuddin
• Oliver Penrose
• Partial Differential Equation
• University of Islamabad
• National University of Sciences and Technology
• Muhammad Sharif
• Ismat Beg

• MIT Page of Asghar Qadir
• Pakistan Academy of Sciences page on Professor Asghar Qadir
• Pakistan Mathematical Society