Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz | |
|---|---|
 Dr. Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz in 1987 | |
| Born | (1937-06-12)June 12, 1937 |
| Died | July 9, 1992(1992-07-09) (aged 55) |
| Nationality | Pakistani |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Government College Lahore B.Sc. Physics, 1957 Florida State University M.Sc. Nuclear Physics, 1962 Ohio University Ph.D. Particle Physics, 1964 |
| Known for | Discovery of Isotopes Atoms for Peace Program Pakistan civil nuclear power |
| Spouse(s) | Lubna Razia Ijaz, Ph.D. |
| Children | 5 includingMusawer Mansoor Ijaz |
| Awards | Fulbright Grant, 1975 Honorary Citizen, Tenn, 1972 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Isotope research Experimental physics Particle physics Accelerator physics Symmetry (physics) |
| Institutions | Virginia Tech Oak Ridge National Labs Brookhaven National Labs Los Alamos National Labs Argonne National Laboratory Fermilab I.C.T.P. (Trieste, Italy) Univ. Petroleum & Minerals |
| Doctoral advisor | Basharat A. Munir, Ph.D. |
Mujaddid Ahmed Ijaz,Ph.D. (Urdu:مجدد احمد اعجا ز; June 12, 1937 – July 9, 1992), was a Pakistani-Americanexperimental physicist noted for his role in discovering newisotopes[1] that expanded the neutron-deficient side of theatomic chart. Some of the isotopes he discovered enabled significant advances in medical research, particularly in the treatment of cancer, and further advanced the experimental understanding of nuclear structures.[2][3] Ijaz conducted his research work atOak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL).[4] He and his ORNL colleagues published more than 60 papers in physics journals announcing isotope discoveries and other results of their accelerator experiments from 1968 until 1983.[5]
Ijaz participated in the U.S.Atoms for Peace initiative during the 1970s.[4] The program provided a number of third-world countries, including Pakistan, with civilian nuclear reactor technology to develop energy for peaceful purposes.[6] As a tenured professor of physics atVirginia Tech, he acted as thesis adviser to graduate students from around the world in experimental physics disciplines. Ijaz made extensive trips abroad during his career, including sabbaticals as a visiting professor at Saudi Arabia'sKing Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.[7][8] in the early 1980s and as a visiting faculty member at theAbdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy in 1985. He retiredProfessor Emeritus of Physics from Virginia Tech in December 1991 after a 27-year career in teaching and research.[5] Ijaz and his wife emigrated to the United States and settled in Virginia, where they had five children. He died in 1992 after a battle with cancer.
Mujaddid Ijaz was born on June 12, 1937, inBaddomalhi,British Indian Empire. His father was a medical student who died in his mid-20s of brain cancer. His mother, a homemaker, remarried. He was the third of ten children in his family. Ijaz's early education was made at rural village schools near Baddomalhi. He attendedIslamia High School in Lahore.[9] His early interest in science and physics was attributed to his step-father's work in the local meteorology department.
After graduating from high school and finishing college entrance exam requirements, Ijaz was admitted toGovernment College in Lahore.[5] There, he majored in physics and graduated with a B.Sc. in 1957. He continued advanced studies under the tutelage of Prof.Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry, widely considered a pioneer in Pakistaniexperimental physics, until 1959 when he met Razia Begum Nazir. They later married and emigrated to the United States in 1960.[10]
Ijaz and his wife arrived inTallahassee,Florida, in August 1960, where they settled as incoming graduate students atFlorida State University.[10] He developed an early interest in particle physics and accelerator experiments while atFlorida State, from where he graduated in June 1962 with a master's degree in physics.[11] His thesis was titledStudy of Angular Distributions of Elastically Scattered 8 to 19 Mev Alpha Particles from Al27[12] and from Ohio University in May 1964 with a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics[13] with a thesis titledProton-Proton Collisions at 2.0 BeV.[14]
Mujaddid Ijaz joined the faculty of theVirginia Tech Physics department in September 1964 as an assistant professor of physics.[15] In his early years as a faculty member, Ijaz devoted much of his time to his teaching responsibilities,[16] including acting as adviser to the university's roster of graduate students and doctoral candidates. He conducted his early research at the Physics department's newly installed nuclear reactor, which at the time was equipped with aneutron activation analysis laboratory.[17] Ijaz's early experimental results earned him an appointment as research collaborator at theOak Ridge National Laboratories in 1966 under aUniversity Isotope Separator at Oak Ridge (UNISOR) grant funded by theU.S. Energy Department.[1]
In 1974, Ijaz launched aDistinguished Visitors Colloquium Series under the Physics department's sponsorship that brought world-renowned physicists to theBlacksburg campus for nearly a decade. Visiting scholars included Salam,Sheldon Glashow, and Nobel physics laureatesHans Bethe,Robert Hofstadter,Eugene Wigner andRichard Feynman. Noted Chinese physicist Luke W. Mo (whose group at theStanford Linear Accelerator had won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990) also lectured at Virginia Tech.[18]
Ijaz attained the rank of Full Professor of Physics in 1977,[19] and during the same year served as acting head of the physics department. After several foreign sabbaticals in the 1980s, the first at U.P.M. in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia from 1979 until 1981[20] and another at I.C.T.P. in 1985, he continued his teaching duties[21] at Virginia Tech until retirement in December 1991 as Professor Emeritus of Physics. During the latter part of his career, Ijaz published papers that focused on methods and results in teaching,[22] religion and science[23] and other aspects of physics that did not form part of his technical research in earlier years.[24] Also a physicist and teaching researcher at Virginia Tech, Lubna Razia Ijaz established a scholarship in 1996 that is awarded to students involved in physics education.[25]
Mujaddid Ijaz began his research work at the Oak Ridge National Laboratories (ORNL) in 1966 under Virginia Tech funding contributed to the UNISOR program.[1] UNISOR was a consortium at that time of 13 institutions whose research scientists were collaborating at Oak Ridge supported by U.S. Energy Department grants together withOak Ridge Associated Universities, of which Virginia Tech was one. Ijaz's research focused on the discovery of newisotopes using ORNL'sHigh Flux Isotope Reactor.[26] The reactor was built in 1965 with the highestneutron flux of any reactor at the time. It produced more medical isotopes while allowing higher fidelity of materials research than any other reactor available in the U.S. Energy Department's science and energy laboratory system during the 1970s. Ijaz and his colleagues at Oak Ridge, led by Kenneth S. Toth, used the High Flux Reactor to discover new isotopes and map characteristics of existing isotopes, includingisotopes ofErbium,Ytterbium,[27]Thulium,[28]Osmium,[29][30]Hafnium,[31]Tungsten,[32]Mercury,Titanium,[33][34][35][36][37] andLead.[38] In December 1982, physicists at theUniversity of Arizona used the mercury isotopes discovered by Toth, Ijaz et al. to successfully model behavior expected of heavier particles than traditional accelerator experiments could produce at the time due to energy limitations.[39]
During the 1970s, Ijaz participated[4] in theAtoms for Peace initiative created byPresident Eisenhower in 1953 to help the post-World War II international community cope with nuclear power.[40] Pakistan's first facility, a 5 MWPARR-I pool-type facility, was provided by the United States in 1965.[41] The reactor began operations on December 21, 1965, under the supervision of Pakistani scientists led by Abdus Salam.[42]
Mujaddid Ijaz collaborated with notable physicists and mathematicians throughout his 27-year career. Most notable among these were his collaborations withAbdus Salam[43] whose groundbreaking work inelectroweak interactions together with American physicistsSteven Weinberg andSheldon Glashow earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979.
In 1976, Salam recommended creating an international forum for the advancement of science and technology to be hosted by Pakistan in theHazara region while serving asScience Advisor to thePrime Minister of Pakistan. Since then, theNathiagali Physics Conferences has gathered notable scientists from around the world during summer breaks to break the intellectual isolation faced by Pakistani scientists.[44] Ijaz participated in these conferences several times during the mid-1970s underNational Science Foundation grants.[citation needed] He was also a member of theNational Academy of Sciences and a fellow of theAmerican Physical Society.[1]
Mujaddid Ijaz was anAhmadi.[45] He married Razia Begum (nee Nazir) in June 1960 prior to emigrating to the United States. Razia later took her husband's chosen name, Lubna, when they both became naturalized American citizens on January 5, 1970.[46] They had five children:Mansoor, Farouk, Atif and Mujeeb. Neelam, their only daughter, was born in Pakistan.[9]
The Ijazes initially settled in Blacksburg, where Virginia Tech was situated, and lived there from 1964 until 1969.[46] After several years of living in the rural community ofFloyd, Virginia,[9][10] they returned toChristiansburg, a township near Virginia Tech, in 1973, building a home in the Appalachian Mountains that today remains the family's homestead.[43]
Mujaddid Ijaz died on July 9, 1992, at his home inShawsville, Virginia, of complications arising from a protracted battle with brain and lung cancer.[5] He was buried in traditional Muslim rituals at the site of his most favored farm in Alum Ridge, surrounded by a large gathering of his family from around the United States and his physics colleagues and friends from southwestern Virginia. PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush consoled Ijaz's widow in aletter dated July 24, 1992.
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