FOREIGN MATHEMATICIANS AT QUAID-I-AZAM UNIVERSITY



Pak. Math. Soc. Newsl., Issue 2, Volume 5, 2006

The history of mathematics is an enticing but neglected field in Pakistan. One reason for this lies in the nature of intellectual history in Pakistan. Telling the story of mathematics is not a conceptually distinct undertaking from describing the theory of mathematics, though the two presentations appear in different guises.

The Mathematics Department of Quaid-i-Azam University, born in 1967, being the only federal and post-graduate department, has played a leading role in establishing traditions in mathematical research in Pakistan. Its contribution in producing a locally educated mathematical workforce in Pakistan has yielded a mathematical culture, which has its own peculiar dimensions and effects. It is worthwhile to look at the history of the Mathematics Department of Quaid-i-Azam University analytically and see its influence on research in mathematics. 

The Commission on National Education came to the conclusion in 1958-59 that the post graduate studies in scientific and technological disciplines required a great deal of reorganization and development. In 1962 the case of post-graduate studies in the basic sciences was taken up again and it was proposed that one center of Advanced Studies and Research should be developed in each university of Pakistan. The international component of the financial support was supposed to have been received from UNESCO, USAID, and Ford Foundation. But at the time UNESCO ran into political and financial crises and therefore the plan received a setback. Later in the same year, the Commission on National Education decided on an alternative plan. It decided to establish a post-graduate university at the national capital.

Dr.M.Raziuddin Siddiqi, who was then the chief of Higher Education in the Reforms Implementation Unit and Vice Chancellor of the University, managed to win support from Dr Herman B.Wells, President of Indiana University, Dr.McGeorge Bundy, President of the Ford Foundation, Dr.David Bell, Vice-President Ford Foundation and Dr.George Gant, Representative of the Ford Foundation. On 5th December 1964, Dr.M.Raziuddin Siddiqi assumed charge of the Vice-Chancellor’s office of the University of Islamabad in the office of the Science and Technology Research Division, of which he was the in-charge, in a building near the Ministry of Education at Chaklala. When Dr Siddiqi relinquished charge of the Division, a spacious building in Satellite Town near the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi was rented for the university office early in 1966, and very soon after that when teaching and research work started on a regular basis, a number of other buildings were hired in the neighbourhood. The foundation-laying ceremony of the permanent campus took place in June 1967 and the University of Islamabad Act was approved by the National Assembly on 2nd July 1967.  

In the first Five-Year Plan (1965-70), it was decided that the university would be purely unitary type, without any affiliated colleges – it would consist only of its own teaching institutes. Each institute would be of inter-disciplinary character containing all the major branches of the subject. As a result, there would be no separate departments of Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics as in the other universities of the South Asian subcontinent, but only one Institute for Mathematical Sciences encompassing all the branches of mathematics shall be developed. The M.Phil. and M.Sc. classes in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics started in September 1966. Eminent visiting professors from abroad were appointed to give regular course of lectures in these subjects.

The Ford Foundation first started to help the Government of Pakistan in founding Quaid-i-Azam University by funding foreign faculty members, followed later by UNESCO. The list of foreign faculty members funded by the Ford Foundation include Marvin Marcus (linear algebra, spring 1970); W. D. Rannie (fluid mechanics); F. A. Graybill (statistics, spring 1971); S. Eilneberg (mathematics, spring 1971). The latter wrote his book on "Automata, machines and languages" while he was at Quaid-i-Azam University. The foreign faculty funded by UNESCO includes R. Wiegandt (algebra, August 1970 - July 1972); H. Klitzing (computer science, arrived in spring 1972); A. V. Arhangelskii (topology, arrived late spring 1972 and spent about 3 years).


Comments

  1. Prof. Dr. Qaiser Mushtaq16 August 2019 at 13:24

    The author is grateful to Professor Dr Richard Wiegandt who provided information about foreign mathematicians at QAU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. candy crush26 September 2023 at 10:35

      𝙳𝚛. 𝚁𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚆𝚒𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜.

      Delete
    2. candy crush26 September 2023 at 10:37

      𝙳𝚛. 𝚁𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚆𝚒𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚢 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜.
      𝚃𝚊𝚗𝚟𝚒𝚛 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚚

      Delete
  2. Imran shahzad16 August 2019 at 21:45

    A little strange and worriful if the story of foreign mathematicians at QAU ends in 1972.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prof. Dr. Qaiser Mushtaq17 August 2019 at 00:31

    I might some day write about MD QAU beyond 1972.

    Foreign mathematicians were supported by Ford Foundation and later by UNESCO. The longest stay of a foreign mathematician was of Prof Arhangelskii - a famous topologist. Now you dont see a single topologist in the department. A couple of his bright students are in the US and Saudi Arabia.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Prof. Dr. Qaiser Mushtaq17 August 2019 at 00:34

    Of all the people at MD, QAU, Prof Qadir had the potential and resources to develope MD. He should with my help given it an international dimension. He should have supported my efforts in moving further for AIMS. He should have supported me at least if nothing else. But instead, he created, with the help of his PhD student Brig Dr Rafiq, CAMP at NUST.

    ReplyDelete

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