Abdul Hameed Nayyar

Abdul Hameed Nayyar
Born	(1945-01-11) January 11, 1945 Hyderabad, British India Present-day India
Nationality	Pakistani
Citizenship	Pakistan
Alma mater	Karachi University Imperial College
Known for	Nuclear disarmament work in Square lattice (Mathematics) and Renormalization (Physics)
Awards	2010 Joseph A. Burton Award
Scientific career
Fields	Condensed matter physics
Institutions	Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Quaid-i-Azam University Princeton University International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)

Abdul Hameed Nayyar (Urdu: عبدلحمید نیّر) (born: 11 January 1945) is a Pakistani physicist and nuclear activist. He specialized in solid state physics and quantum physics, and quantum mechanics. He is a visiting research scientist at the Princeton University and works on Renewable Energy and Clean Fuel Program at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad. Dr. Nayyar is also a prominent peace activist, strong supporter of non-nuclear proliferation, nuclear disarmament, and peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Biography

Dr. Nayyar was born in Hyderabad, India. He received his early and intermediate education in Sukkur and Multan before attending the Karachi University. At University of Karachi, Nayyar received his B.Sc. and M.S. in Physics from there. Later, he went to United Kingdom to attend Imperial College, London, where he obtained his another M.Sc. in physics under the supervision of dr. Abdus Salam. At Imperial College, Nayyar obtained his Ph.D. in Theoretical-Condensed matter physics. Upon returning, he took up teaching position at the Physics department at the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in 1973.

Since retiring in 2005, he has been involved in running the Renewable Energy/Clean Fuel program at SDPI. He has also been a visiting Research Scientist at the Princeton University since 1998.

Education Policy

He co-edited the SDPI report “The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan”, published in 2003, the report critically examined curriculum guidelines and textbook contents in the mainstream public school system of Pakistan. The report, which was intensely debated on public forums, eventually led to the government exercise to revise school curricula and textbooks (see: Pakistan Studies curriculum). Also from SDPI, he co-authored a critical appraisal of the National Education Policy, published in 2006. He has also researched and written on Madrassa education. For over a year, he served as the Executive Director of Developments in Literacy, an organization of Pakistani Americans for philanthropic intervention in education to disadvantaged communities in Pakistan.

Peace Activism

Dr. Nayyar also takes an active interest in the national and international peace movements. Dr. Nayyar is a member of the Global Council of Abolition 2000, a member of the Steering Committee of the Asian Peace Alliance, co-Convener of Pugwash Pakistan, and a member of the Board of Governors of Focus on the Global South, Bangkok.

Nuclear Issues

Another area that interests him is nuclear disarmament. He holds a visiting position at the Program on Science and Global Security of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, USA, where he spends summer months conducting technical studies on issues in nuclear disarmament. He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials.

Academic Research

Nayyar has made numerous contribution in quantum physics and mathematics and published number of publications in physics. He made important contribution to the fields of Renormalization (physics), Dynamic response, and the Square lattice in mathematics.

Renewable Energy

In the area of renewable energy, the energy group at SDPI that he helped establish, has studied the question of marketability of renewable energy technologies with a view to identifying policy measures that could promote their use in Pakistan.

Articles

• "Another Nuclear White Elephant", Dawn (Karachi), 25 July 2004.
• "Making Weapons, Talking Peace: Resolving The Dilemma of Nuclear Negotiations", Economic and Political Weekly, July 17, 2004. Revised and reprinted as “Talking Peace, Making War" The News (Islamabad), January 8, 2005.
• "Twisted Truth", Dawn (Karachi), May 2, 2004.
• "A South Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone", Himal-South Asia, January 2002.
• "What They Can Agree On", The Hindu, July 10, 2001 and The News (Islamabad), July 10, 2001.
• "Chashma - Another Chernobyl in The Making", The News on Sunday (Islamabad), January 23, 2000.
• "Return of The Khaki", Himal-South Asia, November 1999 (reprinted in CERAS Newsletter (Canada), No. 17, 1999).

Publications

Physics

• Aiman Al-Omari and A.H. Nayyar, “The Combined Effect of Frustration and Dimerization in Ferrimagnetic Chains and Square Lattices”, J. Phys. Condensed Matter 12, 9949 (2000).
• Aiman Al-Omari and A.H. Nayyar, “Dimerization of Ferrimagnets on Chains and Square Lattices”, J. Phys. Condensed Matter 11, 465 (1999).
• A.H. Nayyar, “Real Space Renormalization of the Heisenberg Mattis Magnet on a Chain”; in A. Clark (ed.) Many Body Theories, Plenum Press, 1993.
• A.H. Nayyar, “Effects of Short Range Ordering and Random Local Anisotropy on the Dynamical Response of a Disordered Chain: A Renormalization Study”, Phys. Rev. B 47, 15023 (1993).
• T. Shaheen, W. Azeem and A.H. Nayyar, “Real Space Renormalization Scheme for Calculating the Dynamical Response of Disordered Chains”, Phys. Rev. B 46 0777 (1992).

Nuclear Policy

• Zia Mian, A.H. Nayyar, M. V. Ramana, R. Rajaraman, "Plutonium Production in India and the US-India Nuclear Deal," Gauging US-Indian Strategic Cooperation, Henry Sokolski, ed., Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Carlisle, PA, March 2007.
• Zia Mian, A. H. Nayyar, R. Rajaraman and M. V. Ramana, "Fissile materials in South Asia and the Implications of the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal, Science and Global Security, in press.
• R. Rajaraman, Zia Mian, A.H. Nayyar "Nuclear Civil Defense in South Asia: Is it Feasible?", Economic and Political Weekly, November 20, 2004.
• Zia Mian and A. H. Nayyar, "An Initial Analysis of 85Kr Production and Dispersal from Reprocessing in India and Pakistan", Science and Global Security, vol. 10, No. 3, September–December 2002.
• M. V. Ramana and A. H. Nayyar, "India, Pakistan and the Bomb", Scientific American, December 2001.
• Matthew McKinzie, Zia Mian, A. H. Nayyar and M. V. Ramana, "The Risks and Consequences of Nuclear War in South Asia", in Out of The Nuclear Shadow, Smitu Kothari and Zia Mian (eds.), Zed Books, Rainbow Press & Lokayan, 2001.

Energy Issues

• Waqasullah Khan Shinwari, Fahd Ali and A. H. Nayyar, “Electric power generation from solar photovoltaic technology: is it marketable in Pakistan?”, The Pakistan Development Review, 43(3) 2004 Autumn: p. 267-294
• A. H. Nayyar, “Going up in Smoke”, in “On the Brink: Desperate Energy Pursuits in South Asia”, Panos South Asia, Kathmandu, 2006.
• A. H. Nayyar and Zia Mian, “Pakistan and the Energy Challenge”, in Chernobyl +20: International Perspectives of Energy Policy and the Role of Nuclear Power, Eds. Lutz Mez, Mycle Schneider, and Steve Thomas, Multi-Science Publishing, in press

Education

• A. H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim, Critical Issues in Education Policy: Citizens’ Review of the National Education Policy, SDPI, 2006
• A. H. Nayyar and Ahmed Salim (eds.) The Subtle Subversion: The State of Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan, SDPI, 2004.
• A. H. Nayyar, “Madrassa Education: Frozen in Time” in Education and the State: Fifty Years of Pakistan, Pervez Hoodbhoy (ed.) Oxford University Press, 1997.
• S. Khurshid Hasanain and A. H. Nayyar, “Conflict and Violence in the Educational Process”, in Making Enemies, Creating Conflict: Pakistan’s Crisis of State and Society, Zia Mian (ed.) Mashal Books, 1997.
• Pervez Hoodbhoy and A. H. Nayyar, “Rewriting the History of Pakistan” in Islam, Politics and the State: The Pakistan Experience, Asghar Khan (ed.) Zed Books, 1985.

External links

• Renewable Energy Programme at SDPI