Abdus Salam; Nobel Prize Winner for Physics in 1979

Abdus Salam, 70, theoretical physicist from Pakistan who won the Nobel Prize. In 1979, Salam shared the prize for physics with professors Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg of Harvard University for pioneering work on unifying two of the forces governing the behavior of matter--the electromagnetic force and the weak nuclear force. He donated his share of the Nobel Prize money to an international fund for young scientists. The son of a Punjabi peasant, Salam was deeply committed to the development of science in the Third World. He founded the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy in 1964 to promote that goal. He studied science at Cambridge University in England on a scholarship. His awards included an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. On Thursday in Oxford, England.