Professor Abdus Salam

You know, its a shame this is written in urdu. I had it translated to me yesterday and its possibly the best of all the write-ups out here about Prof. Abdus Salam.

One hears lots of fairy tales in these days of introspection. Lots of ``if only...```s and tales of the giants that we remember as our boyhood heroes. I think we are all inclined to take these tales of the noble man arrayed alone against the ignorant forces of darkness, with a grain of salt.

You manage to show that there was a human being under the scientist. That human being sounds arrogant, self absorbed, impatient and abrasive. None of this detracts from his achievements in the least, but helps put his successes and failiures in perspective.

We can now consider their irony without suspending disbelief, and they were indeed ironic.