Established | 27 January 1999 |
---|---|
Budget | Federally-funded |
Field of research | |
Director | Qaisar Ahsan |
Location | Islamabad, Pakistan |
Collaborations | |
Affiliations | Government of Pakistan |
Operating agency | Quaid-i-Azam University |
Website | www |
The National Centre for Physics [nb 1] is a federally funded research institute and national laboratory co-located near Quaid-i-Azam University in Pakistan [1] [2]
Founded in 1999, [1] the site is dedicated for understanding and advancement of the physical sciences and mathematical logic – the site is located in Islamabad in Pakistan. [1] [3] It closely collaborates and operates under the quadripartite supervision of International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy, CERN in Switzerland, and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). [2]
Establishing world-class physics research institutes was proposed by a number of scientists. The roots of NCP institutes go back to when Nobel laureate professor Abdus Salam, after receiving his doctorate in physics, came back to Pakistan in 1951. Joining his alma mater, Government College University as Professor of Mathematics in 1951, Salam made an effort to establish the physics institute but was unable to do so. The same year, he became chairman of the Mathematics Department of the Punjab University where he tried to revolutionise the department by introducing the course of Quantum Mechanics necessary for undergraduate students, but it was soon reverted by the vice-chancellor. He soon faced the choice between intellectual death or migration to the stimulating environment of a western institutions. This choice, however, left a deep impression on him and was behind his determination to create an institution to which physicists from developing countries would come as a right to interact with their peers from industrially advanced countries without permanently leaving their own countries. This resulted in founding to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) by Professor Abdus Salam in Italy.
In 1974, Prof. Abdus Salam visualised the need of an institution where experts from the industrialised nations and learners from the developing countries could get together for a couple of weeks once a year to exchange views on various subjects of current interest in Physics and allied sciences. His suggestion was accepted by Chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Munir Ahmad Khan and it was the year 1976 when the first International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs (INSC) was inaugurated at Nathiagali, with co-sponsorship of ICTP and PAEC, under the directorship of Prof. Riazuddin, a student of Abdus Salam. The same year, Ishfaq Ahmad established the Institute of Nuclear Physics at the University of Engineering and Technology of Lahore where Abdus Salam was invited to give first lectures on particle physics and quantum mechanics. [1] [4]
Since then, it has been regularly held without break. [1]
The National Centre for Physics came into reality when Prof. Riazuddin arranged a one-day symposium on Frontiers of Fundamental Physics on 27 January 1999 at the Institute of Physics of Quaid-e-Azam University, only seven months before the recent tests, ( Chagai-I ). All the leading scientists of the country and some visitors from CERN attended this symposium and they provided their support. Prof. Riazuddin being the founding father of NCP, was its first director-general, and it was inaugurated by Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission during this period, on 16 May 2000. The director general of European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Dr. Luciano Maiani and distinguished members of his delegation, the vice-chancellor of Quaid-i-Azam University, Dr. Tariq Saddiqui and other dignitaries, witnessed the inauguration. [2] The first academic faculty of this institute were included Munir Ahmad Khan, Pervez Hoodbhoy, Fiazuddin, Masud Ahmad, and Ishfaq Ahmad, who first presented their physics papers to the institutes and CERN.
In 2008, Dr. Hamid Saleem became its director-general after, his predecessor and founding father of NCP, Prof. Riazuddin, who was made lifetime director general emeritus. The vision of Prof. Riazuddin to make NCP one of the leading physics institutes of Pakistan is now being carried by Dr. Hamid Saleem.
NCP offers research in different branches of physics such as particle physics, computational physics, astrophysics, cosmology, atmospheric physics, atomic, molecular, and optical physics, chemical physics, condensed matter physics, (fluid dynamics, laser physics, mathematical physics, plasma physics·, quantum field theory, nano physics, quantum information theory.
NCP is collaborating with CERN in the field of experimental high-energy physics. NCP and CERN are involved in the development, testing and fabrication of 432 Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) required for the CMS muon detector at CERN. The RPC has an excellent time resolution i.e. of the order of 1–2 nanoseconds and it will be used for the bunch tagging at LHC. At the national level, this project is a joint collaboration of NCP and PAEC, whereas at international level, NCP also collaborating with Italy, China, South Korea and US.
The RPC is a gaseous detector made using two parallel-plates of bakelite with high resistivity. Each RPC for CMS will be equipped with 96 electronic channels, which will be readout are based on 0.14 micrometre BiCMOS technology. For the complete system, number of readout channels are around 50,000. RNCP has an experimental high energy physics laboratory which is equipped with the high speed and advanced data acquisition system based on VME standards. This laboratory is used for prototyping and testing of RPCs at present.
National Centre for Physics organized a three-day Grid Technology Workshop in Islamabad, Pakistan in collaboration with European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva from 20 to 22 October 2003. The main objective of the workshop was to provide hands-on experience to Pakistani scientists, engineers and professionals on Grid technology. [5]
For accessing and managing the LHC data novel techniques like the concept of data and computing grids are used. CERN has evolved a new project called the LHC Computing Grid (LCG). NCP is a partner of CERN in this project and it is the only LCG node in Pakistan.
NCP signed a memorandum of understanding during dr. K. R. Sreenivasan, Director ICTP's visit to Pakistan from 26 to 30 June 2005. In addition, the Centre carries out research in areas that are not covered by any institute of Physics. One such area being pursued by the Centre involves a number of activities in Experimental High-Energy Physics through a co-operative agreement with CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Besides this, NCP has collaborations with several international institutes and universities in the field of theoretical physics including AS-ICTP, Trieste, Italy; Centre for Plasma Astrophysics (CPA), K-Leuven University, Belgium; Tokyo University, Tokyo, Japan; Ruhr University, Bochum (RUB), Germany and many others. Several research papers are published in reputed international journals each year from NCP through national and international collaborations. [1]
RNCP and the Other independent countries have signed formal Memorandum of Understanding agreements are below:
Mohammad Abdus Salam was a Pakistani theoretical physicist. He shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for his contribution to the electroweak unification theory. He was the first Pakistani and the first scientist from an Islamic country to receive a Nobel Prize and the second from an Islamic country to receive any Nobel Prize, after Anwar Sadat of Egypt.
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) is a federally funded independent governmental agency, concerned with research and development of nuclear power, promotion of nuclear science, energy conservation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province.
The Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (PINSTECH) is a federally funded research and development laboratory in Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Ishfaq Ahmad KhanSI, HI, NI, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist, emeritus professor of high-energy physics at the National Centre for Physics, and former science advisor to the Government of Pakistan.
Abdullah Sadiq, is a Pakistani physicist and ICTP laureate who received the ICTP Prize in the honour of Nikolay Bogolyubov, in the fields of mathematics and solid state physics in 1987 for his contributions to scientific knowledge in the field of mathematics and statistical physics. He is the professor of physics and current dean of the department of physics of the Air University of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
Munir Ahmad Khan, NI, HI, FPAS, was a Pakistani nuclear reactor physicist who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nation's nuclear weapons during the successive years after the war with India in 1971.
Riazuddin, also spelled as Riaz-Ud-Din, was a Pakistani theoretical physicist, specialising in high-energy physics and nuclear physics. Starting his scientific research in physics in 1958, Riazuddin was considered one of the early pioneers of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development and atomic deterrence development. He was the director of the Theoretical Physics Group (TPG) of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 1974 until 1984. Riazuddin was a pupil of the winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, Abdus Salam.
Muhammad Masud Ahmad, best known as Masood Ahmad, was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and ICTP laureate known for his work in dual resonance and Veneziano model, a strings sting mathematically described the fundamental forces and forms of matter in quantum state.
Ghulam Murtaza, SI, FPAS, is a Pakistani theoretical physicist with a specialization in the physics of ionized plasmas, and is an Emeritus Professor of physics at the Government College University in Lahore. Murtaza's work is recognizable in plasma physics and controlled nuclear fusion processes to provide a better understanding of energy propagated by the main-sequence star, the Sun.
Project-706, also known as Project-786 was the codename of a research and development program to develop Pakistan's first nuclear weapons. The program was initiated by Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 in response to the Indian nuclear tests conducted in May 1974. During the course of this program, Pakistani nuclear scientists and engineers developed the requisite nuclear infrastructure and gained expertise in the extraction, refining, processing and handling of fissile material with the ultimate goal of designing a nuclear device. These objectives were achieved by the early 1980s with the first successful cold test of a Pakistani nuclear device in 1983. The two institutions responsible for the execution of the program were the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Munir Ahmed Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan respectively. In 1976 an organization called Special Development Works (SDW) was created within the Pakistan Army, directly under the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan) (COAS). This organization worked closely with PAEC and KRL to secretly prepare the nuclear test sites in Baluchistan and other required civil infrastructure.
The International Nathiagali Summer College on Physics and Contemporary Needs (INSC), was founded by Nobel laureate in Physics Dr. Abdus Salam (then-Science Advisor to the Prime minister) to promote physics and scientific research activities in Pakistan. Having suggested by Professor Abdus Salam to the Government of Pakistan, it was established by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission's chairman Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan.
The Pakistan Atomic Research Reactor or (PARR) are two nuclear research reactors and two other experimental neutron sources located in the PINSTECH Laboratory, Nilore, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Faheem Hussain, was a Pakistani theoretical physicist and a professor of physics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). A research scientist in the field of superstring theory at the National Center for Physics, Hussain made contributions to the fields of superstring and string theory. He was the first Pakistani physicist to publish a research paper in the field of superstring theory. A social activist and democratic activist, he authored various scientific research papers in peer-reviewed journals.
Hafeez Hoorani or Hafeez-ur-Rehman Hoorani or Hafeez R. Hoorani is a Pakistani particle physicist, with a specialisation in accelerator physics, and a research scientist at the CERN. Hoorani is working at the National Center for Physics, with research focus in elementary particle physics and high energy physics. Until the end of 2013, he served as scientific director of International Centre for Synchrotron-Light for Experimental Science Applications in the Middle East (SESAME) and is now research associate at the National Center for Nuclear Physics, Islamabad.
Fayyazuddin, also spelled as Fayyaz Uddin, is a Pakistani theoretical physicist, emeritus professor, specialising in theoretical physics and mathematical physics at Quaid-e-Azam University campus National Centre for Physics, Islamabad. He is a senior scientist at the National Center for Physics. Fayyaz is doing research in the fields of quantum mechanics, particle physics, and meson physics. He has published numerous physics papers accompanied by Riazuddin and has co-authored Quantum Mechanics by Fayyazuddin and Riazuddin published in 1990.
Muneer Ahmad Rashid, FPAS, also spelled as Munir Ahmad Rashid, is a Pakistani mathematical physicist and emeritus professor of applied and mathematical physics at the Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics of the National University of Sciences and Technology.
The Abdus Salam Chair in Physics, also known as Salam Chair in Physics, is an academic physics research institute of the Government College University at Lahore, Punjab province of Pakistan. Named after Pakistan's only Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam, the institute is partnered with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). While it is a physics research institute, the institute is dedicated to the field of Theoretical and Mathematical physics.
The Pakistan Physical Society, also known as Pakistan Physics Society, is an academic and professional physics society of Pakistan's academicians and physicists, dedicated for the development and research in physics. It is one of the notable society with one of core objectives including to advise the Government on the matters of science and development. Headquartered at the Institute of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, it is a member of Institute of Physics, at the University of Engineering and Technology at Lahore, Punjab Province.
The Department of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, is an academic and research department of the Quaid-e-Azam University (Qau), Pakistan. It is also referred to as the Institute of Theoretical Physics. In 2018, it was officially renamed as al-Khazini Department, named after al-Khazini.