Asghar Qadir
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Asghar Qadir
23 July 1946 (age 64)
Born Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, British Indian Empire
(Present-day India)
Residence Islamabad
Citizenship Pakistan
Nationality Pakistani
Fields Mathematics, Physics, Economics,
National University of Sciences and Technology
(NUST)
Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU)
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
(KFUPM)
Institutions GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology
(GIKI)
University of Texas at Austin (UT)
International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE)
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)
University of London
Alma mater
Imperial College London
Doctoral Advisor Roger Penrose
Postdoctoral Advisors John A. Wheeler; Remo Ruffini
His work in General Relativity, Astrophysics,
Known for Cosmology, Differential Equations, Special Functions,
Mathematical Economics
Hilal-i-Imtiaz (2008)
Distinguished National Professor of the Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan (2004)
ISESCO Award for Mathematics (2003)
Adjunct Professor of King Fahd University of
Petroleum & Minerals, Saudi Arabia (2002)
Notable awards
Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1999)
Pakistan Academy of Sciences Gold Medal (1996)
Al Kharizmi First Prize for Mathematics, Iran (1995)
Fellow of the Pakistan Society of Development
Economics (1988)
Notes: A friend of physicists Roy P. Kerr, Roger Penrose, Riazuddin, Remo
Ruffini, Abdus Salam (late) and John A. Wheeler (late)
Asghar Qadir (July 23, 1946), HI, SI, FPAS, is a renowned Pakistani mathematician and a
prominent relativist, specialized in Mathematical Physics. He is considered as one of the top
mathematicians in Pakistan. He directs the Centre for Advanced Mathematics and Physics
(CAMP) at the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST).[1]
He is a distinguished student of English mathematical physicist Prof. Sir Roger Penrose and
has worked with the American physicist, Prof. John A. Wheeler and the Italian
Astrophysicist, Prof. Remo Ruffini. He made extraordinary efforts to develop the field of
Relativity in Pakistan by guiding a large number of research students and his own research.
He also developed the field of Lie Symmetry Analysis in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He has
written and edited a number of books, mainly focusing on the mathematical sciences.
He is author of the book "Relativity: An Introduction to the Special Theory"[2] that is widely
read by science students in colleges throughout Asia.[3] He has attended more than 150
International and National Conferences and Seminars in the fields of Mathematics, Physics,
Economics and the History and Philosophy of Science.[4] He has supervised two Master of
Science theses, twenty nine M. Phil and thirteen Ph.Ds during his career so far. He has
published more than 200 research papers. He is the author of 12 books, 22 research level
articles, 7 teaching journal papers and 32 popular articles.
Contents
[hide]
1 Biography
2 Rutherford High Energy Laboratory
3 Academic career
4 Awards and honors
5 Fellowships and memberships
6 Books
o 6.1 Conference papers
o 6.2 Research papers
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Biography
Asghar Qadir was born in 1946 to a middle class family in Simla (now Shimla), Himachal
Pradesh of the British Indian Empire, where his mother had gone for the summer [6]. His
family on both sides was well known. His paternal grandfather Sir Abdul Qadir, was a
literature who had also represented the Government of India in London. His father was a
famous lawyer, Manzur Qadir (HPk), who had also served as Foreign Minister and Chief
Justice of the West Pakistan High Court. His maternal grandfather was a well known
politician, Sir Fazl-e-Hussain. At the time of partition Qadir's family lived in Lahore, West
Pakistan. In 1964, Qadir traveled to the United Kingdom for studies, where he attended the
Imperial College of Science & Technology of the University of London and took the A.R.C.S.
from Imperial College and his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physics from the University of London,
United Kingdom in 1967[6]. He obtained the Diploma of Imperial College (DIC) in
Mathematics in 1968.[6] and the Ph.D. in Relativity in February 1971 on Penrose’s Twistor
approach to quantum gravity, under the supervision of Sir Roger Penrose.[7]
Rutherford High Energy Laboratory
As an undergraduate student Qadir also worked in the “beams group” at the Rutherford
High Energy Laboratory (now known as the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) where he
developed a computer code to be able to locate the position of the proton beam of the
proton accelerator NIMROD and to be able to extract the beam, enhancing the efficiency by
a factor of 3. This led to the development of a more general interpolation code that was
then given to IBM who had the rights for commercial application of research conducted
there.[8]
Professional Career
From the beginning Qadir adopted an academic career and has continued in academics to
this day. He says that he has never regretted the choice. In February 1971, he came back to
Pakistan and in September that year joined the Department of Mathematics at the Quaid-e-
Azam University (QAU, then Islamabad University) as a Research Associate.[6] He became
Assistant Professor in January1973, Associate Professor in December 1982 and Professor
in October 1987. He served as Chairman of the department from September 1983 to August
1986, September 1988 to August 1994 and October 1997 to February 1999, when he
became Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences there and served till August 2000. In June
2000 he was appointed Meritorious Professor at QAU.[6] He continued there till 2004, when
he took early retirement on account of strong differences with the administration there on
account of what he regarded as serious mismanagement. He then set up the Centre for
Advanced Mathematics & Physics (CAMP) at the National University of Sciences &
Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan in 2004 and is currently directing that Centre.
He went to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) (now known as the
Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (AS-ICTP)) to attend courses in
1972, 1975, 1978 and 1980. From1980 to 1992 he was Associate Member and from1993 to
2000 he was Senior Associate there. He went on the Fulbright and Fulbright-Hayes
Fellowship in 1978/79 and 1986/87 to work with Prof. John A. Wheeler at the Centre for
Theoretical Physics in the Department of Physics, University of Texas at Austin, USA. From
October 1993 to March 1994, on leave from QAU he went as Professor to the Ghulam Ishaq
Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences & Technology (GIKI) to set up the Mathematics
program for them during their first semester. From November1994 to June 1997 and from
September 2000 to June 2003 he went on leave as Professor to the Department of
Mathematical Sciences of the King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia.
Development of Science in Pakistan and the Third World
Influenced by Prof. Abdus Salam (NL) Qadir tried to contribute to the development of
Science (and especially Mathematics) in Pakistan and other countries of the Third World. In
particular, Salam instituted a Prize for young Pakistani scientists in 1980. Qadir has run
this Prize since then as Secretary of the Committee. He participated actively in the
development of curricula for Mathematics at the School, College and University levels from
the start of his career till now. With colleagues at the QAU he started a program of giving
extension lectures in Mathematics and Physics at neighbouring schools and colleges and
dedicating one day to help the teachers there with problems of understanding the subject
and with managing the Laboratory (for Physics). This had a significant impact on the
students emerging from these institutions and developed a great demand for these subjects
at the QAU. That, in turn, improved the standard in the subject for some time. He has been
involved in selecting students for indigenous and foreign scholarships to study abroad and
in running training courses for them.
He was a member of the sub-committees for Education and for Science for various 5-year
plans of the country and for one longer-term plan for “scientific manpower in the year
2000+”. He chaired a Committee set up by the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology
for the Development of Scientific Human Resources in the Higher Educated Sector and
produced a report providing innovative proposals for the purpose. He has served as a
member of the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology and of
the Pakistan Science Foundation and been a member of various boards of educational
institutions in the country.
In 1980 he was appointed Associate Director, for Mathematics, Physics and Economics, of
the Centre of Basic Sciences of the University Grants Commission of Pakistan (UGC) by the
then Chairman of the Commission, Dr. M. Afzal, who later became Education Minister. He
was later made Director of the Centre for these subjects. He started many programs for
improving during this period. In particular he started the (Sandwich) MPhil program for in-
service teachers in Mathematics and Physics, which was especially successful in
Mathematics. In Economics he arranged for teachers at universities to visit the Pakistan
Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) for training and conducting research. He also
tried to get a PhD program started at PIDE to generate adequate quality human resources
in Economics in the country. This effort only bore fruit a quarter of a century later. He also
arranged for applications to participate in ICTP activities to be routed through the UGC,
where he could then help select candidates for those activities. The number of participants
and the number of ICTP Associates went up dramatically and more relevant participants
were selected for these activities.
Qadir has been involved in organizing various conferences/workshops/symposia in
Mathematics, Physics and Economics at a national level with national and international
participation, at a regional level and at a fully international level. In particular, as a member
of the BCSPIN School on Fundamental Physics he initiated the “Preparatory Schools” to try
to bring participants from the academically less developed countries to a level that they
could benefit from the Schools. These Preparatory Schools proved so effective that they
replaced the original schools for some time. As the Chair of the International Coordinating
Committee of the Fifth Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, he arranged for
funding for third world participants so that an extremely large number could attend. He
has been the driving force behind the Regional Conferences in Mathematical Physics that
have been held in Iran, Pakistan and Turkey. He has made a point of attending conferences
in his areas of expertise over a significant part of the third world. He has arranged
collaborations between his institutions and institutions in other third world countries. He
is a member of committees of organizations that provide funds for third world students to
attend conferences at various countries. He has made proposals and participated in getting
actions taken other countries to try to develop science there. These efforts he says were
inspired by the enormous contributions and untiring drive of Prof. Abdus Salam for the
development of science in the Third World, though he is the first to admit that his efforts do
not compare with those of Prof. Salam.
Supervised 10 Ph.D. theses (at QAU):
1. Relativistic gravitodynamics and forces (J. Quamar 1984);
2. Some implications of the N-formalism (M. Rafique 1985);
3. Conformal extension of the N-formalism (A. H. Bokhari 1986);
4. Spherically symmetric spacetimes (M. Ziad 1990);
5. Forces in non-static spacetimes (M. Sharif 1991);
6. A twistorial description of the null dynamics of Maxwell-Dirac fields (J. G.
Cardoso 1992);
7. Quantization on spacelike hypersurfaces in curved spacetimes (A. Pervez 1993);
8. Some foliations of black hole spacetimes (A. A. Siddiqui 2000);
9. Curvature collineations of some spacetimes and their interpretation (A.R. Kashif
2003) co-supervised with A.H. Bokhari,
10. Connection between symmetries of differential equations and manifolds (T.
Feroze 2005);
11. Complex Lie symmetries for differential equations (S. Ali 2009);
12. Use of approximate symmetry methods to define energy of gravitational waves
(I. Hussain 2009).
Supervised 3 Ph.D. theses (at NUST):
1. Complex Lie Symmetries for Differential Equations (S. Ali,2009)
2. Use of Approximate Symmetry Methods to Define Energy of Gravitational Waves (I.
Hussain,2010)
3. Black Holes in an Accelerated Universe (M. Jamil.2010)
Awards and honors
(a) First Prize in General Knowledge Contest for High School students in 1961;
(b) Fulbright Hayes award for 1978-79 and Senior Fulbright Fellowship for
1986-87, working with Prof. John A. Wheeler at the University of Texas at
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.;
(c) Prize for book Relativity: An Introduction to the Special Theory, (World
Scientific 1989) from National Book Council of Pakistan, 1991;
(d) Al Kharizmi First Prize for Mathematics for 1995;
(e) Pakistan Academy of Sciences Gold Medal for 1996;
(f) Sitara-i-Imtiaz of Pakistan for 1999;
(g) ISESCO Award for Mathematics 2003;
(h) Appointed Distinguished National Professor of HEC from February 2004;
(i) Research Award of NUST for 2007;
(j) Hilal-i-Imtiaz of Pakistan for 2008.
Fellowships and memberships
(a) Started the “Rocketry Society” of Government College Lahore in 1963;
(b) Research Associate and Senior Research Fellow at the Pakistan Institute of
Development Economics (PIDE), 1980-88 and 1988-94;
(c) Joint Secretary of Al-Kindi Society for the Advancement of the Philosophy of
Science, Islamabad, Pakistan, 1980- ;
(d) Associate Member and Senior Associate of the International Centre for
Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy, 1980 – 91 and 1992 to 1999;
(e) Life member and Vice-President of the Albert Einstein Society (of Pakistan),
1985 on and 1987 on;
(f) Life Member, Joint Secretary and Secretary to the Pakistan Physical Society,
1990, 1992 and 1993;
(g) Life Member and President of the Fulbright Alumni Association, 1992 and
1993;
(h) Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences, 1992 on.
Others
(a) Associate Director and Director of the Centre of Basic Sciences (COBS) of the
University Grants Commission, 1980-88 and 1988-94.
(b) Referee and member of editorial board of several national and international
journals;
(c) Conducted several refresher courses for College teachers, in service
employees of PIDE and S&T scholarship holders;
(d) Participated in and chaired numerous committees for revision of curricula of
Mathematics, Economics and Physics;
(e) Been member of 3 sub-committees for the formulation of 3 five year plans of
Pakistan;
(f) Member of the International Advisory Board of the GIK Institute of
Engineering Sciences & Technology;
(g) Conducted in-depth evaluation of the Basic Sciences departments of NUST
and of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics of the King Fahd
University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia;
(h) Have organised and been member of the organising committee, of several
national (about 20) and international (about 20) conferences.
(i) Developed the AS-ICTP “Bangladesh-India-Pakistan-Turkey-Uzbekistan
Network (BIPTUN) for Astrophysics, Relativity and Cosmology (ARC)”.
(j) Member of the Board of Governors of the Pakistan Council of Science and
Technology for Sciences.
(k) Convener of Task Group for the Development of Mathematics in Pakistan.
(l) Convener of the Committee for Human Resource Development of the
Pakistan Council of Science and Technology, Higher Education Sector.
(m) Member of Board of Graduate Studies of COMSATS and PIEAS.
(n) Member of International Advisory Board for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
Aga Khan University, Karachi.
Books
1. History of Science in Central Asia, Proceedings of the National Seminar on the History of
Science in Central Asian Civilizations, December 1974, Quaid-i-Azam University Press April
1978. Editor A. Qadir.
2. Journal of Central Asia IV, No.1, July 1981, (special issue containing papers read at the
International Congress on the History and Philosophy of Science, Islamabad, December
1979). Editor A. Qadir.
3. Physics and Contemporary Needs Vol. 5, Plenum Publishers 1983. Editors Riazuddin and A.
Qadir.
4. Physics and Contemporary Needs Vol. 6, Plenum Publishers 1984. Editors A. M. Khan, A.
Qadir, M. N. Qazi and S. Riazuddin.
5. A Model of a Dynamic Islamic Economy and the Institution of Interest, Essays in Islamic
Economic Philosophy No. 4, PIDE 1986. Authors S. N. H. Naqvi and A. Qadir.
6. Physical Mathematics: Proceedings of the Third Albert Einstein Seminar, Albert Einstein
Society (through PASTIC), November 1989. Editors A. H. Bokhari and A. Qadir.
7. Relativity: An Introduction to the Special Theory, World Scientific November 1989, A. Qadir.
8. Proceedings of the Third Regional Conference on Mathematical Physics, World Scientific,
January 1990. Editors F. Hussain and A. Qadir.
9. Proceedings of the Mini-Workshop on Relativity, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Quaid-i-Azam
University 1992. Editors A. Qadir and M. Sharif.
10. Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium on the Frontiers of Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University
1994. Editors G. Murtaza, A. Qadir and M. A. Baig.
11. Experimental Gravitation, Institute of Physics Press 1994. Editors M. Karim and A. Qadir
and Classical and Quantum Gravity 11, No. 6A, June 1994 (supplementary issue for invited
papers from the International Symposium on Experimental Gravitation 26 June – 2 July,
1993, Nathiagali, Pakistan. Editors M. Karim and A. Qadir.
12. Applications of Symmetry Methods, National Centre for Physics Press 2006, Editors A. Qadir
and K. Saifullah.
13. Proceedings of the Thirtieth International Nathiagali College on Physics and Contemporary
Needs, National Centre for Physics Press 2006. Edited by J. Aslam, A. Qadir and Riazuddin.
14. Application of Symmetry Methods: Proceedings of Workshop on Symmetry Methods and Their
Applications, National Centre for Physics Press 2006. Edited by A. Qadir and K.Saifullah.
15. Proceedings of the Twelfth Regional Conference on Mathematical Physics, World Scientific
(2007). Editors J. Aslam, F. Hussain, A. Qadir and Riazuddin.
Selected Research papers
1. “Dimensional regularization and the infra-red divergence” K. Ahmed and A. Qadir, Lett. al.
Nuovo Cimento 10 (1973) 63 - 66.
2. “Moving daughter Regge trajectories in the Van Hove model with SL(2,C) SL(2,C) symmetry”, K.
Ahmed, Arifuzzaman and A. Qadir, Phys. Rev. D11 (1975) 2647 - 2657.
3. “Penrose graphs”, A. Qadir, Physics Reports C39 (1978) 133 - 170.
4. “Field equations in twistors”, A. Qadir, J. Math. Phys. 21 (1980) 514 - 520.
5. “Reintroducing the concept of force into relativity theory”, S. M. Mahajan A. Qadir and P. M.
Valanju, Nuovo Cimento B65 (1981) 404 - 417.
6. “The question of an upper bound on entropy”, A. Qadir, Physics Letters A95 (1983) 285 - 287.
7. “Carter's fourth invariant of the motion”, A. Qadir, J. Quamar and M. Rafique, Physics Letters
A109 (1985) 90 - 92.
8. “Late stages of crunch”, A. Qadir and J. A. Wheeler, Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl., Eds. Y. S. Kim and
W. W. Zachary, 6 (1989) 345 - 348.
9. “A quantum statistical upper bound on entropy”, E. Joos and A. Qadir, Nuovo Cimento B107
(1992) 563 - 572.
10. “The relativistic generalization of the gravitational force for arbitrary spacetimes”, A. Qadir and
M. Sharif, Nuovo Cimento B107 (1992) 1071 - 1083.
11. “General formula for the momentum imparted to test particles in arbitrary spacetimes”, A.
Qadir and M. Sharif, Physics Letters, A167 (1992) 331 - 334.
12. “Radiation from fast rotating neutron stars”, F. De Paolis and A. Qadir, Class. & Quant. Grav. 11
(1994) A171 - A181. Also in Experimental Gravitation, Eds. M. Karim and A. Qadir (Institute of
Physics Press 1994) A171 - 181.
13. “The classification of spherically symmetric spacetimes”, A. Qadir and M. Ziad, Nuovo Cimento
B110 (1995) 317 - 334.
14. “Observing molecular hydrogen clouds and dark massive objects in galactic haloes”, F. De Paolis,
A. Qadir, G. Ingrosso, P. Jetzer and M. Roncadelli, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 299 (1995) 647 -
649.
15. “Extension of Euler's beta function”, M. A Chaudhry, A. Qadir, M. Rafique and S.M. Zubair, J.
Comp. & Appl. Math. 78 (1997) 19 - 32.
16. “K-slicing the Schwarzschild and Reissner Nordstrom spacetimes”, A. Qadir and A. A. Siddiqui, J.
Math. Phys. 40 (1999) 5883 - 5889.
17. “The length and volume of the Qadir-Wheeler ‘suture model’”, A. t-Hussain and A. Qadir, Phys.
Rev. D63 (2001) 083502-1 to 5.
18. “Extended Reimann zeta functions”, M. A. Chaudhry, M. T. Boudjelkha, A. Qadir, M. Rafique and
M. Zubair, Rocky Mountain Journal of Mathematics 31 (2001) 1237 - 1263.
19. “A note on flat foliations of spherically symmetric spacetimes”, V. Hussain, A. Qadir and A. A.
Siddiqui, Phys. Rev. D65 (2002) 027501, 1-2.
20. “Generalized error functions with applications to probability and heat conduction”, M. A.
Chaudhry, A. Qadir and S. M. Zubair, International J. Appl. Math. Sciences 9 (2002) 259 - 278.
25. “Classification of cylindrically symmetric static spacetimes according to their Ricci collineations”,
A. Qadir, K. Saifullah and M. Ziad, Gen. Rel. & Grav. 35(2003) 1927 - 1975.
21. “Kerr black holes as retro-MACHOs” F. De Paolis, A. Geralico, G. Ingrosso, A. A. Nucita, and A.
Qadir, Astron. & Astrophys. 415 (2004) 1 - 4.
22. “New inequalities involving the zeta function” P. Cerone, M.A. Chaudhry, G. Korvin and A. Qadir,
J. Inequalities in Pure and Appl. Math. 5 (2004) #43 1-17.
23. “Incomplete exponential and hypergeometric functions with applications to non-central χ2-
distribution”, M. A. Chaudhry and A. Qadir, Communications in Statistics, Theory and Methods
#3, 34 (2005) 525 - 535.
24. “Foliation of the Schwarzschild and Reissner-Nordstrom spacetimes by flat spacelike
hypersurfaces”, A. Qadir and A. A. Siddiqui, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D15 (2006) 1419 - 1440.
25. “On some bounds for the Mellin transform and applications to the Riemann zeta and Macdonald
functions”, P. Cerone, M. A. Chaudhry and A. Qadir, Integral Transforms & Special Functions 17
(2006) 769 - 777.
26. “Linearization criteria for a system of second order quadratically semi-linear ordinary differential
equations”, F.M. Mahomed and A. Qadir, Nonlinear Dynamics 48 (2007) 417 - 422.
27. “The generalization of special functions”, A. Qadir, Appl. Math. and Comput. 187 (2007) 395 -
402.
28. “Conditional linearizability criteria for third order ordinary differential equations”, F.M.
Mahomed and A. Qadir, J. Nonlinear Mathematical Physics 15 (2008) 25 – 35.
29. “Complex Lie symmetries for differential equations”, S. Ali, F. M. Mahomed and A. Qadir, J.
Nonlinear Analysis B: Real World Applications 10 (2009) 3335 - 3344.
30. “Approximate Noether symmetries of the geodesic equations for the charged-Kerr spacetime
and rescaling of energy”, I. Hussain, F.M. Mahomed and A. Qadir, Gen. Rel. & Gravit. 41 (2009)
2399 - 2414.
31. “Proposal for determining the energy content of gravitational waves by using approximate
symmetries of differential equations”, I. Hussain, F.M. Mahomed and A. Qadir, Phys. Rev. D 79
(2009) 125014 (14 pages).
32. “Invariant linearization criteria for systems of cubically semi-linear second order ordinary
differential equations”, F. M. Mahomed and A. Qadir, J. Nonlinear Mathematical Physics 16
(2009) 283 - 298.
33. “Invariants of two-dimensional systems via complex Lagrangians with applications”, U. Farooq,
S. Ali and A. Qadir, Commun. Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulations 16 (2010)1804 -
1810.
34. “Some extensions of the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein functions with applications to the family
of the zeta and related functions” by H.M. Srivastava, M.A. Chaudhry, A. Qadir and A. Tassaddiq,
Russian J. Math. Phys. 18 (2011) 107 - 121.