LAHORE: The 14th National Symposium on ‘Frontiers in Physics’ began on Wednesday at the Government College University (GCU) with deliberations on challenges for Pakistan in the field science and technology, especially in the world where every now and then, new specialisations emerge, opening new frontiers and leading to new technologies.

The three-day symposium is organised by the GCU Salam Chair and Pakistan Physical Society in collaboration with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), GCU Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics (CASP), Punjab Higher Education Commission (PHEC), Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS), COMSTECH, Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), University of Peshawar and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

“We need to change our investment priorities with a greater focus on education and research and development,” said eminent nuclear physicist Prof Dr Shaukat Hameed Khan in his presidential address at the inaugural ceremony of the symposium.

A large number of physicists from top universities and research and development organisations from abroad are participating in the mega three-day event spread over 23 technical sessions wherein researchers would highlight the fascinating developments in the world of physics and their impacts on human lives.

In his address, COMSTECH Coordinator General Prof Shaukat Hameed highlighted the research output of Pakistan in different fields of science and technology and compared it with other countries of the world especially Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.

He highlighted that Pakistan had a very low number of research patents, just 978, while Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia were at 2,724 and 4,258. He said due to insufficient investment and wrong educational priorities, Pakistan’s labour productivity was also very low in comparison to Iran, Turkey and Indonesia.

Prof Hameed also briefed the participants about the major initiatives taken by the COMSTECH i.e. the Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation of OIC, for the promotion of science and technology in the OIC states. He also highlighted the valuable role played by the Pakistan in development of parts for CERN Large Hadron Collider experiment.

In his opening remarks, noted plasma physicist and mathematician Dr G Murtaza said that the world of science was witnessing rapid developments and the knowledge was accumulating at very fast rate, unlocking the deep mysteries of nature. He highlighted the major breakthroughs in field of physics in the recent years which had resulted in development of topological insulators, new energy efficient blue light, quantum computer and atomic clocks.

“These recent atomic clock are so precise that if you were to set this clock with beginning of the Big Bang, that clock today would be off just by 5 seconds over the whole course of 14 billion years,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, GCU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said for the knowledge-based economy, we need to invest in it. He also highlighted shortage of skilled manpower in different fields of science and technology. The VC said that the symposium would provide an opportunity to their young students to interact and learn from the senior physicists.

Eminent theoretical physicist Prof Dr Ahmed Ali presented a key note on The Standard Model of Physics – one of the greatest achievement century.