Tahir Hussain (physicist)

Not to be confused with director and actor Tahir Hussain.

Tahir Hussain (1923–2010) was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and an emeritus professor of nuclear physics at the Government College University whose research was engaged in Long-lived fission product and Electrostatic nuclear accelerators. As an eminent educator and scientist, he has mentored noted Pakistani physicists at the Government College University .^[1]

Life and education

Born in Aligarh, Hussain received his education from Aligarh University where he received his Bachelor (B.S.) and Master's degree (MSc) with distinction in physics from there.^[1] After the Partition of India, he declined the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's offer to join Physics Laboratories of India. Instead, after personally being requested by Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah, he along with his mentor Dr. Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, migrated to Pakistan in 1948.^[2]

Academic career

At first he taught physics at Government College, Lahore, and after some time, proceeded to Oxford University and did PhD in Nuclear Physics in 1954. After his PhD, he came back to Pakistan where he joined Government College University.^[3] In 1954, he along with dr. R. M. Chaudhry founded the "Center For Advance Studies in Physics (CASP). In 1964, he was elevated as the Head of the Physics Department whereas, in 1965, he became a director of Center For Advance Studies in Physics (CASP).^[4]

Public service

In 1965, after the retirement of dr. R.M. Chaudhry, he subsequently became a head of High Tension Laboratory and continued the research and work of his mentor. In 1968, while at the Dr. Tahir Hussain was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Azad Kashmir University, Muzaffarabad. Thereafter, he was appointed Chairman of Literacy and Mass Education for some time.^[5] Dr. Tahir was associated with the Ministry of Education of Pakistan as Consultant for Science and also worked as chairman, USA Education Foundation. He has published a number of research papers in journals of international repute.^[6] Dr. Tahir Hussain has contributed in the foundation and development of the first Nuclear Research Laboratory.^[5] In the High Tension Laboratory, scientists like Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, Dr. Mansoor and others worked under his supervision. He also had supervised the undergraduate and post graduate education of renowned nuclear scientist and physicist dr. Ishfaq Ahmad.^[5]

Research in physics

After the retirement of his mentor, Hussain became a director of High Tension Laboratory (HTL) in 1965. He continued his research in Electrostatic nuclear accelerators and, also trained a number of young Pakistani scientists in the field of nuclear technology.^[7] In 1972, he was delegated by his student Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad to participate in Kahuta Project. As a senior scientist at PAEC, he began in research in Electrostatic nuclear accelerators. He served as senior research scientist at the PARR-Reactor, and was significantly involved in mass calculations in isotopic radiation and ionization nuclear and atomic energy.^[8] Later, he focused his research in Long-lived fission products where he published investigative papers in peer journals. He also performed an experiment on ⁹³Zr, an element that produced at a relatively high yield of about 6% but its decay is 7.5 time slower than ⁹⁹Tc. In 1977, Hussain then joined Centre for Solid State Physics, University of the Punjab. In 1983, he then rejoined his alma mater as a professor emeritus of nuclear physics in 1977.

Bibliography

• Fundamentals of physics, Punjab Textbook board, Lahore. First published 1968 (Author and Editors, S.J.H.Bukhari. and Dr. Tahir Hussain)
• Guide to fundamentals of nuclear physics, Punjab Textbook board, Lahore. Published in 1967 (Author and editor, Dr. Tahir Hussain)

Quotes

• "From the theory that I taught, my students produced results".

Awards

• Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (1965)

Notes and references