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Synopsis :

This public lecture is by Pakistani theoretical physicist Professor Abdus Salam who shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with two other scientists for his work in electroweak unification. The first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize in science, he was involved in high calibre scientific research in Pakistan. In this lecture he speaks about proton decay, amongst other topics. In 1973, a prediction was made that in years to come, the proton will decay into an electron. The prediction was tested by seven laboratories and there is no conclusive proof yet that the proton will decay. Professor Salam then answers questions on the lifetime of particles, the ability of fundamental forces to hold in a black hole and the fifth force of unification. He then speaks about the creation and working of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics. The idea of creating this Centre for developing countries was mooted because he lived in a part of the world that is far away from where science is being created. When he was teaching in Pakistan there was only one person he could consult about his work. This could result in brain drain as people could not find similar people who could work with them. At the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in 1960, he suggested that a Centre for Theoretical Physics should be created by a United Nations organisation. The suggestion was taken up after 1962 and the Centre started functioning in Trieste, Italy in 1964 with basic funding from Italy. Now it holds courses for people who are PhD holders in subjects like physics and energy, physics and high technology and physics and the environment. It accommodates people from both developed and developing countries.