Faheem Hussain (31 July 1942 – 29 September 2009), was a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

and a professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the

Lahore University of Management Sciences Lahore University of Management Sciences, also known by its acronym LUMS, is a Private university, private research university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab, Pakistan. Founded in 1985, it is ranked as one of the most prestigious modern Li ...

(LUMS). A

research scientist A scientist is a person who researches to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophical study of nature ...

in the field of

superstring theory Superstring theory is an attempt to explain all of the particles and fundamental forces of nature in one theory by modeling them as vibrations of tiny supersymmetric strings. 'Superstring theory' is a shorthand for supersymmetric string t ...

at the National Center for Physics, Hussain made contributions to the fields of superstring and

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

. He was the first Pakistani physicist to publish a research paper in the field of superstring theory. A social activist and democratic activist, he authored various scientific research papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Education and early life

Faheem Hussain was born in

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the st ...

, Maharashtra,

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

in 1942. His family moved to

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

shortly before the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

on 14 August 1947. He graduated from St. Anthony's High School, Lahore, in 1955 and then enrolled in

Forman Christian College Forman Christian College is a private nonprofit Liberal arts college, liberal arts Universities in Pakistan, university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. It was founded in 1864 and is administered by the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Church ...

. After receiving his double BSc(Hons) in Mathematics and

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

in 1960, he moved to the Great Britain. There, he attended Chelsea College, London, and completed another B.S. (hons) in physics in 1963. He attended

Imperial College, London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

where physicist Abdus Salam was also teaching. He began working with Abdus Salam's group at the Imperial College. He completed his MSc in physics from

under Abdus Salam, and followed by his PhD in

Theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

under the supervision of theoretical

particle physicist Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and ...

Paul Matthews in 1966.

Academic career

He taught at Garyounis University,

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

, from 1977 to 1979. In 1985 joined Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron, better known as

DESY DESY, short for Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (English: ''German Electron Synchrotron''), is a national research centre for fundamental science located in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin in Germany. It operates particle accelerators used to ...

, in Germany. Prior to this, Hussain moved to

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and joined the European Organization for Nuclear Research (

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

). He had also been a visiting professor at the

Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

, Germany. There, with Juergen Koerner, George Thompson and others, he calculated relativistic-wave functions for

hadron In particle physics, a hadron is a composite subatomic particle made of two or more quarks held together by the strong nuclear force. Pronounced , the name is derived . They are analogous to molecules, which are held together by the electri ...

s and used Salam's formalism to develop a variant of the

heavy quark effective theory In quantum chromodynamics, heavy quark effective theory (HQET) is an effective field theory describing the physics of heavy (that is, of mass far greater than the QCD scale) quarks. It is used in studying the properties of hadrons containing a sing ...

. The Mainz group went on to make valuable contributions to the study of heavy baryon decays.

ICTP career

Hussain joined the Abdus Salam

International Centre for Theoretical Physics The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the Gov ...

(ICTP) at the request of Salam. He worked there as a senior staff scientist in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

, Italy. There he was originally involved in developing the

high energy physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the scale of protons and neutrons, while the stu ...

diploma programme, which helps train young graduates from developing countries to start research in physics. He was the head of the office of external activities for six years. Of late, he was working in

, the physics of

extra dimensions In physics, extra dimensions or extra-dimensional spaces are proposed as additional space or time dimensions beyond the (3 + 1) typical of observed spacetime — meaning 5-dimensional or higher. such as the first attempts based on the K ...

and non-commutative geometry. Hussain published extensively in the field of theoretical elementary

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

. He also published articles and papers to solve the

science and technology Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

problems in underdeveloped countries.

Support for democracy in Pakistan

After the Coup d'état by General

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

, Hussain publicly opposed Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization of Pakistan and supported democracy in his country. Hussain left Pakistan in 1989 and joined ICTP at the request of Abdus Salam.

Return to Pakistan

Hussain worked as a senior staff scientist at

ICTP The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) is a research center for physical and mathematical sciences, located in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The center operates under a tripartite agreement between the It ...

from 1990 then took his retirement and returned to Pakistan in 2004. There, he joined the physics research institute, the National Center for Physics.

Research in physics

Hussain, along with Riazuddin,

Fayyazuddin Fayyazuddin, also spelled as Fayyaz Uddin ( born 10 November 1930), is a Pakistani theoretical physicist, emeritus professor, specialising in theoretical physics and mathematical physics at Quaid-e-Azam University campus National Centre for Phy ...

, and Hamid Saleem, carried out a research on the string theory and published in the field of

mathematical physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

. Later, he moved to Lahore and was offered a position at the

or LUMS's science department. He eventually became a chairperson of the Physics Department there. At LUMS, Hussain began his research in noncommutative geometry and superstring theory. There, he formed a "''Mathematical Physics Group''" (MPG), the MPG group consists of Pakistan's noted physicists, Asad Naqvi, Tasneem Zehra Hussain, and Amer Iqbal. He there began his work and published articles in the field of

Extra dimensions In physics, extra dimensions or extra-dimensional spaces are proposed as additional space or time dimensions beyond the (3 + 1) typical of observed spacetime — meaning 5-dimensional or higher. such as the first attempts based on the K ...

Noncommutative geometry Noncommutative geometry (NCG) is a branch of mathematics concerned with a geometric approach to noncommutative algebras, and with the construction of ''spaces'' that are locally presented by noncommutative algebras of functions, possibly in some g ...

, and the string theory.

Personal life

Hussain was married to Jane Steinfels Hussain, an American woman, from 1968 to 1986. He later married Sara Monticone Hussain.

Death

Hussain was suffering from

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

and died on 29 September 2009. He was widely respected by his colleagues, collaborators and students, for both his academic brilliance and principled stance on ideals of democracy and freedom of speech.

Bibliography

* Mathematical Physics by Riazuddin and Faheem Hussain * IIIrd Regional Conference on

Mathematical Physics Mathematical physics is the development of mathematics, mathematical methods for application to problems in physics. The ''Journal of Mathematical Physics'' defines the field as "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the de ...

by Faheem Hussain and

Asghar Qadir Asghar Qadir ( born 23 July 1946) ''HI'', ''SI'', ''FPAS'', is a Pakistani mathematician and a prominent cosmologist, specialised in mathematical physics and physical cosmology. Nowadays, he is widely considered one of the top mathematician ...

* Contemporary Physics: Proceedings of the International Symposium by Jamil Aslam, Faheem Hussain, and Riazuddin.

Research papers

* The Theoretical Physics Group at Quaid-e-Azam University * Hadrons of arbitrary spin and heavy quark symmetry by Faheem Hussain, Thompson, G ; Körner, J G *Interactions and dynamics of D-branes / Hussain, F ; Lengo, R ; Núñez, C ; Scrucca, C A *Black hole – D-brane correspondence : An example / Bertolini, M ; Fré, P ; Hussain, F ; Iengo, R ; Núñez, C ; Scrucca, Claudio A. *Interaction of D-branes on orbifolds and massless particle emission / Hussain, F ; Iengo, R ; Núñez, C ; Scrucca, Claudio A *Closed string radiation from moving D-branes / Hussain, F ; Iengo, R ; Núñez, C ; Scrucca, Claudio A *Aspects of D-brane dynamics on orbifolds / Hussain, F ; Iengo, R ; Núñez, C ; Scrucca, Claudio A *On the form factors of the Ds+ --> + decay / Hussain, F ; Ivanov, A N ; Troitskaya, N I *An introduction to the heavy quark effective theory / Hussain, F ; Thompson, G *Non-commutative geometry and supersymmetry, 2 / Hussain, F ; Thompson, G

References

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Faheem 1942 births 2009 deaths Muhajir people Academic staff of Lahore University of Management Sciences Pakistani physicists Pakistani Marxists Pakistani string theorists Pakistani science writers Academics of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of London People associated with CERN Forman Christian College alumni Academic staff of Quaid-i-Azam University Project-706 people Indian emigrants to Pakistan People from Yavatmal district Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz