Local students, professors get international exposure. PHOTO: FILE
Public commitment and resources are absolutely essential for the promotion of a scientific culture in any society, according to SM Mahajan, Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Born in Shakargarh (present-day Narowal district in Punjab) in pre-partition India, grew up on the other side of the border and is one of the four directors conducting the ongoing “First ICTP-NCP Plasma International College on Plasma Physics” at the National Centre for Physics (NCP) which is being attended by around 100 local and 18 foreign researchers.
The five-day college is being conducted in collaboration with the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and will ends on November 15.
Mahajan, considered an authority in plasma physics, was of the opinion that a single place (for research) is not self-sustaining, something that countries like Pakistan should learn from the west.
“You need to have more of such centres and institutions, and they must positively compete and cooperation with each other,” he said. “In the fundamental sense, democratise the system and then investment should be continuous and diverse.”
Although not an easy task, but 10 to 20 institutions yielding good research and is the need of the day. These institutes could keep circulating their students for better exposure and learning.
“Building science institutions is something the state and scientists will have to do, one cannot expect the private sector to invest in an initiative that might only deliver in the long-term,” he added. “Different institutions need to cooperate and build a network of sorts for which, eventually, public resources will need to be utilised.”
Even with public commitment, establishing a firm scientific culture in Pakistan that promotes research and gives respect to scientists will be a strenuous job which will require public awareness and hard work on behalf of the scientific community. To a certain extent, the NCP is trying to carry on that struggle and build networks with local universities and research institutes.
According to Director General of NCP Hamid Saleem, holding the international college is a part of the attempts to provide young Pakistani researchers with a broader scientific exposure.
“Had the college been held abroad, only a few Pakistanis would have been able to participate,” he said.
Students and professors from the Government College University of Faisalabad attending the conference said it had familiarized them with advanced concepts in Plasma Physics and interacting with foreign experts had opened new doors for their research, adding that attending the college had also helped them overcome their institutional resource limitations.
Plasma — a collection of charged particles — is a state of matter that makes up most of the Universe. One of the areas of plasma research is to use its magnetic field to create the environment needed for a fusion reaction to take place.
Plasma physics research is important because it might allow scientists to control thermonuclear fusion reactions for power generation. And, though a distant dream, countries are investing in theoretical plasma physics research. Once the prospects for practical applications improve, they would be prepared to use utilise the technology informed the participating experts.
The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) started using an indigenously developed small “tokomak” fusion reactor in 2008 to study nuclear fusion power through plasma while the NCP also has a research department dedicated to the field.
Foreign participants also seemed amazed by the number of women scientists attending the conference.
Local participants of the ICTP-NCP College seemed to have impressed Mahajan as he was found to be saying, “The responsive participants remind me of the true brave scientific spirit to question.” An attitude that, according to him, was beautiful.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2013.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ