Prof. Ishfaq Ahmad

Prof. Ahmad was born on 3 November 1930. He has a former special advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on Strategic Programmes, with the status of a Federal Minister; and currently an advisor to the Government of Pakistan.

He earned an MSc (Physics) degree from the University of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan (1951), and a DSc (Physics), from the University of Montreal, Canada (1958). He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Sorbonne, Paris (France) (1959). Later on, he was also a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Niels Bohr Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen, Denmark (1961-1962) and then at the University of Montreal and the University of Ottawa, Canada (1963-1964). He was awarded an Honorary degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) by the Punjab University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, Pakistan (2000).

He served on the faculty of the Government College, Lahore (1952-1960). He became Senior Scientific Officer in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) (1960-1966), Secretary of PAEC (1967-1969), Director of the Atomic Energy Centre (AEC), Lahore (1969-1971), Director of the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH), Islamabad (1971-1976). He was then promoted to Chief Scientist in PAEC in 1976, and served for 13 years as a Member (Technical) and later as Senior Member of PAEC (1988-1991). He was appointed as Chairman of PAEC in 1991 and retired in 2001.

Prof. Ahmad has been a member of many Boards of Governors of various scientific and academic bodies in Pakistan, including the Pakistan Council of Science and Technology and the Executive Committee of the National Commission for Science and Technology. He was elected as a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (1983) and a Fellow of the International Nuclear Energy Academy (2000). He was elected President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences in 2007.

Prof. Ahmad has played a significant role in the following fields in Pakistan: scientific manpower training, establishment of R&D facilities, indigenous production of nuclear materials, indigenization of peaceful uses of nuclear technology as well as classified applications of nuclear technology. He has also encouraged physics talent test programmes in Pakistan leading to participation in Physics Olympiad.
His main research interest has been in nuclear and high energy physics, and nuclear technology.

Since 2001, Prof. Ahmad has been instrumental for the establishment of the National Centre for Physics (NCP) in Islamabad and has served as chair of its board of governors.

Dr Ishfaq Ahmad’s efforts has led to the creation of the Global Change Impact Studies Centre (GCISC) in Islamabad where, for the first time, research on Climate Change is being undertaken in Pakistan. GCISC serves as the Secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Committee on Climate Change.

After the devastating earthquake of 8 October 8 2005, the Government has decided to establish a Centre for Earthquake studies in Islamabad, under the technical direction of Dr Ishfaq Ahmad.

As Council Member from Pakistan of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Prof. Ahmad has developed close cooperation between IIASA and Pakistan.

Prof. Ahmad has led the Pakistan delegation to the IAEA Board of Governors and the IAEA General Conference. He has also attended several other scientific meetings including the PUGWASH Conference on Science and World Affairs.

Prof. Ahmad is the recipient of the three highest official awards in Pakistan: the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the Hilal-i-Imitiaz and the Nishan-i-Imitiaz (1998).

Prof. Ahmad was elected as a Fellow of the IAS in 2000.