Abdus Salam: the passionate, compassionate man and his masterpiece the ICTP Miguel A. Virasoro Universidad Nacional General Sarmiento-Argentina Abdus Salam Memorial Meeting Nanyang Tech University 25th-28th January 2016 MAV Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam- A multidimensional genius A cautionary introduction: In this short talk I will present a particular perspective on Abdus Salam, the scientist, the humanist, the engaged human being. In this way I hope to illuminate an aspect of his image. We are, all of us who have presented personal testimonies here and in the past, adding facets to an icon, a source of inspiration, an example to cherish and to follow. All our testimonies are subjective. Not to be confronted against each other but to be thought as complementary to add depth to our image. One example: Cosmic Anger Abdus Salam life made a difference for all of us. His accomplishments are manifest. Because of that I believe our image of him should be faithful to his life and as complex as his personality. We should not try to "explain" Abdus Salam, we should not try to reduce his complex humanity to that of a Hollywood hero. MAV Abdus Salam
Statement of Collusion of Interests Briefly: the moments in my life when I crossed Salam’s path (and benefitted from the encounter) 1961- JJ Giambiagi participates in the meeting organised 1 by Salam and Budinich in the Castelletto-Miramare. He is very positive but sceptic 1966 Military Coup. The University closes after the "Night 2 of the long sticks" I have to leave Argentina and the ICTP is (always) available. But this time a letter from Hector Rubinstein makes me choose the Weizmann: massive quark models vs U(6,6)) 1970 - With 2 colleagues we return to Argentina. I pass by 3 Trieste and negotiate with Salam 2 Associateships for the 3 of us. He was enthusiastic even if it was not the norm. In Argentina I switch to a more applied subject. Guided by Isidoro Orlansky (GFDL-Princeton Univ) we organize a group in Oceanography with an ambition: to develop a model of the South Atlantic. MAV Abdus Salam
1974 - The Government veers abruptly to the right and 4 Death Squads appear focused on the Universities. Many in our group are threatened and decide to leave. Here again the ICTP helps us. The case of Silvia Garzoli- 1980 - 1995 I am professor in Rome and make frequent 5 visits to ICTP . 1996 After my appointment as Director to ICTP I visit 6 Salam in his home in England. He is not able to talk but when I express my commitment to continue his fantastic work at ICTP his eyes shine. These 6 close encounters in more than 30 years don’t look like a strong interaction. The ICTP did represent for me like an anchor in the middle of turmoil, and also a meeting place where I would meet colleagues from the South. MAV Abdus Salam
Understanding the man through his creation Paradoxically it was after Salam’s death that my dialogue with him became loud and clear. I was surrounded by people who knew him well. Luciano Bertocchi, Anne Gatti, his longest secretary and Hamende who was merciless with me whenever I dared to think something "new" for the ICTP . He would calmly point out that Salam had already proposed something similar years before. I also learned about how different people can be. I used to imagine my old prof Giambiagi vs Abdus Salam. Both of them shared basically the same ideals but Giambiagi was the "rational", "sceptic" one, While Salam was buoyant, optimistic "as if" he was dismissing real obstacles "as if" he was in denial of possible risks, as if he was imbued with a supreme mission. MAV Abdus Salam
Salam’s power of persuasion Was this optimism real or just a facade, a trick to hide his doubts and persuade better those he wanted participating in one of his projects. Remember John Ziman’s quote He would take you by the arm and say –I want you to go to Valparaiso tomorrow, on mission. and there were only three answers. –it’s against my religion to go to Valparaiso. –I’m very sorry but that day I must be in Singapore. –Yes, I’ll do it. What do we do? How do we start? What’s to be done?" MAV Abdus Salam
Salam’s religiosity and his missions I think his optimism was real and perhaps related to his religiosity. I think he felt he had a mission in his life, perhaps 3 missions: to empower his fellow scientists from developing countries to participate in and share the scientific endeavour that is the common task and heritage of all mankind to improve the status of modern science in the realm of Islam and provoke their renaissance. To understand better Allah’s message by studying nature and making fundamental discoveries. The ahmadiyya is a relatively small (20 millions) and modern variant of Islam. The community is tightly knit and allows for a more personalised relation with God. MAV Abdus Salam
Salam’s religiosity, the clergy Salam’s practice of his religion was immersed in this strong social network but he didn’t appreciate the intermediary clergy: "In most Islamic countries, a class of nearly illiterate men have, in practice, appropriated to themselves the status of a priestly class without possessing even a rudimentary knowledge of their great and tolerant religion". Furthermore although he read and often quoted the Coran, he also claimed that Islam (more than Christianity) asked the pious to understand God studying Nature. MAV Abdus Salam
Salam’s religiosity, the authority and the rules This leads to a second characteristic of Abdus Salam. He conversed and discussed a lot about theological issues with fellows scholars but felt little obliged to obey rules or commandments issued by an authority. M. Duff anecdote: A student comes to Salam asking whether he should include in a publication "these other calculations which do not quite seem to fit the picture" and Salam’s memorable answer. "When all else fails, you can always tell the truth". This is quintessential Abdus. My point is that he had a deep sense of ethics. He dealt with big ideas, and acknowledge tremendous injustices ( Cosmic Anger ? ) and put upon himself ambitious goals. But in the pursuit of them he would follow his own rules (or bend those imposed). The categorical imperative MAV Abdus Salam
Abdus Salam ethics vs some narrow-mindedness This has been a real source of serious misunderstanding, I even dare to say it has played into prejudices well entrenched in our world. In a well oiled, developed society there are clear norms, rules. One just obeys them because in that way everything runs smoothly, though not necessarily justly, and one is not supposed to care about "unintended consequences". One can live "non-engagé" in Sartre’s words. In the 3rd World, to begin with, things never run smoothly and in addition inequities can be so much more dramatic that a moral individual is obliged to act thinking about the consequences of both his acts and his non-acts. In a 3rd World country to be "non-engagé" is immoral. This is the complexity Abdus Salam faced and dealt with and that I do not want to see simplified MAV Abdus Salam
The Nobel Prize An example of this confrontation between these two "moralities" is explicit in 2 articles by N. Dombey where the author accuses Salam of its "use of ICTP’s resources to further his prospects of a Nobel Prize". Here are his weird examples of this "immoral" behaviour: the permanent invitation to Paul Dirac to visit the ICTP (he could have added the creation of the Dirac Medal allowing for a small violation of causality), The "1972 - Conference on the history and foundations of quantum mechanics" with (and I quote) "a conference banquet in honour of Dirac’s 70th birthday... unrelated to the needs of developing countries... to fraternise with important physics dignitaries: ... Dirac, Heisenberg, Wigner, Bethe... Casimir... and Peierls" MAV Abdus Salam
1970 - The appointment of Stig Lundqvist to organise the Condensed Matter Group in anticipation that 3 years later he would become a member of the Nobel Committee. The use of the ICTP official mail service to send personal letters requesting support for his candidacy. and Dombey adds The record of how Salam won his Nobel Prize does not suggest that he was particularly scrupulous in determining whether a particular activity was undertaken for the benefit of science in developing countries or to advance his own research in elementary particle theory. MAV Abdus Salam
Helping things to happen Of course Salam took advantage of the ICTP to further his chances. –Stig Lundqvist ...We discussed the scientific programme and above all the physics Salam was doing. The possibility of the Nobel Prize for him was coming close and, as I was a member of the Nobel Committee, these discussions became very complex. Salam should be praised for these efforts. I am totally sure that all the scientists from the developing countries got enormous benefit from his Nobel Prize MAV Abdus Salam
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