Shaukat Hameed Khan

Shaukat Hameed Khan (Urdu: شوکت حمید خان; born 4 September 1941) , is a Pakistani optical physicist and a visiting professor of physics at the Comsats University in Islamabad. Khan is known for his understanding in spark gap and plasma-induced Lasers in ionized environment.

His career is mostly spent at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission before taking professorship at the GIK Institute of Technology and Engineering and eventually becoming its rector.

Biography

Khan was born in Lahore, Punjab in British Indian Empire on 4 September 1941 and completed his matriculation in Lahore. In 1957, Khan enrolled at the Gordon College in Lahore where he graduated with BSc with honors in physics in 1961, and earned the Rhodes scholarship that allowed him to study in the United Kingdom.

He attended the University of Oxford in England, and graduating with BA in mathematics in 1964, and BSE in electrical engineering in 1965 from the Oxford University. He was also President of the Oxford Majlis Asia Society in 1962.

His classical work at the Oxford University was based on the gas laser based on the nitrogen filled gas tube through the spark gap. His research work was supported by the funding made possible to study the applications of Lasers by the United States, whose agency, the DTIC eventually released his thesis work as public domain.

Career in Pakistan government Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission

In 1969, Khan returned to his native country, Pakistan, with doctorate in optical physics but found research interests in the applications of nuclear physics when he found employment with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).

His career mostly spent at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, a national laboratory site, where his earlier work was focused towards designing and building the Laser rangefinder for the Pakistan Army in 1970s, building several prototypes for the military. After India's nuclear test in 1974, Khan's interest built in weapon-grade enrichment of U238 and was of the view of employing a complex laser-based isotope separation as opposed to relatively easier gaseous centrifuges which was being favored by Bashiruddin Mehmood at that time. Despite his expertise and advocacy, the program went in favor of employing the gaseous centrifuges method initially under Bashiruddin Mehmood in 1974 but later went to qualified scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan in 1976.

In 1981, Khan went to established Optics Laboratory within the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology in Nilore, of which, he served its first director. Khan provided the strong advocacy for the Vision 2030 program of which he was its director— the Vision 2030 was a policy measure program that aimed towards defining a preferred future for Pakistan from several possible futures. Khan serves as the co-chairman of Information Communication Technologies taskforce. Refer to the CMS Bulletin from March 1999 (page 13/39) In 2001, Khan left CERN and re-joined PAEC; he was appointed director of PAEC in 2002. In 2002, Khan headed the Plasma physics lab at PAEC and printed numerous scientific articles about the discoveries in laser and plasma physics. He founded the laser programme in Pakistan which has now grown into the Optics Laboratories and a National Institute of Lasers and Optronics with several hundred researchers. He also established the plasma physics research institutes in Pakistan.

Awards Awards and honors National Talent Scholar, (1959–61) Gold Medal from the Punjab University (1961) Best All-Round Student, Gordon College (1961) An elected Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University (1962) Pride of Performance (1993) Technology Gold Medal from Pakistan Academy of Sciences (1993)