Anwar Ali

Anwar Ali (born 1943) is a Pakistani physicist and a computer programmer, who served as the Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 2006 until 2009. His scientific career is spent at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission as a computational physicist and played a key scientific role his nation's secret nuclear deterrent program.

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission

After his graduation from Punjab University, Ali found employment with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1967, as a scientific officer at the Atomic Energy Center in Lahore. He joined the Nuclear Engineering Division alongside Bashiruddin Mahmood, an engineer, and aided in the investigations on the uranium enrichment under Bashiruddin Mahmood in May 1974. Ali was an original member of the uranium investigation team,, that was working with Mahmood as a principal investigator, under advice from Abdul Qadeer Khan. Eventually, Ali lost interest in nuclear physics but found himself working in computer coding and researching on the topics and applications involving the fluid dynamics in the computational physics. Following this incident, Ali was transferred at the Directorate of Industrial Liaison until 1985 when he was posted at the Directorate of Technical Development (DTD) where he found himself working as a computer programmer, and aided in developing computer codes for the launch sequences of the missiles. In 1993, Ali accepted the employment with the National Defence Complex, a rocket engine contractor, and played a key role in designing the satellite-based inertial guidance and control system of the Shaheen-I missile system. In 1996, Ali went to join the DTD, and helped write the computer codes for the nuclear devices— he was part of the computer programming team that design the codes for the nuclear devices, codenamed: Chagai-I. In 1999, Ali was honored with Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Trans. Star of Excellence) by the President of Pakistan, and remained associated with his nation's strategic program, namely the Shaheen missile system. Ali, who had been the most senior scientist at the PAEC, was confirmed for the appointment of the chairmanship of the Atomic Energy Commission when the Government of Pakistan announced at the news media on 28 March 2006. Upon taking over the chairmanship, Ali announced that the PAEC has also promoted the utilization of nuclear technologies in other areas, such as agricultural production and for medical diagnosis and therapy. Ali, as chairman of the PAEC, provided strong advocacy for expansion of the commercial nuclear plants to the Government of Pakistan. "

On 27 January 2006, Anwar Ali, received an invitation letter to visit CERN– a particle physics facility in Switzerland– where Ali and Robert Aymar negotiated an agreement between PAEC and CERN to provide financial, technical, and scientific support in the field of novel accelerator, collimator, particle detector and information technologies, as well as through the training and education of scientists and engineers.

On 5 April 2009, Ali, rumored to be given extension from his three-year chairmanship, was confirmed for his retirement from the PAEC and was succeeded by Dr. Ansar Pervaiz on 7 April 2009.

Awards and honors Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1999) Scientist Emeritus