LEST WE FORGET
The first nuclear physicist of Bangladesh
Nuclear physics was first introduced in Bangladesh by an energetic and amiable young man who returned from England after obtaining his PhD - Dr Anwar Hossain. He was the first trained nuclear physicist of Bangladesh, a pioneer in the emerging branch of physics research in the country. September 23 was his 10th death anniversary.
Dr Hossain worked under the famous Professor J Rotblatt on the problem of scattering of 9.5-MeV protons by carbon and oxygen, and collaborated with WE Burchon, WM Gibson and J Rotblatt. His second paper was also on the scattering of 9.5-MeV protons by neon and argon which he worked on with RG Freemantle and DJ Prowse but his third paper was on proton-proton and proton-deuteron scattering in which he collaborated with DJ Prowse and J Rotblatt. He then switched his interest towards the newly created optical model analysis of elastic scattering of nucleons by light nuclei and he collaborated with EJ Burge and Y Fujimoto. He was able to publish a paper in the then prestigious journal Philosophical Magazine. This paper later came to be known as "Phil Mag P. 542, 1955". He continued to publish papers on the topic with Burge and Fujimoto (Phil Mag, Ser. 8, Vol. 1, 1933 and 1956).
Dr Hossain published a summary of all his previous work in a review paper in the Pakistan Journal of Sciences. This was followed by another more ambitious review-type paper on the optical model analysis of proton-scattering from light nuclei. This paper was published from Dhaka with one of his most favourite students, M Syeduzzaman, in the prestigious journal Nuclear Physics followed by another research paper with DJ Prowse entitled "On the 7.7 MeVF carbon-12" published in the Nuovo Cimento. He then published another paper in collaboration with a brilliant alumnus of the physics department of the University of Dhaka, AN Kamal. This paper was entitled "On Energy Levels in Flourine-19" and it was published in the Physical Review. A paper on the scattering of 9.5-MeV protons by nitrogen was also published in the Indian Journal of Physics.
His paper on elastic scattering of protons by He3 and of neutrons by He3 was published along with his revered teacher (and mine too) Professor M Innas Ali. It was presented at the United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and published in the Conference Proceedings. A second paper in this line of research was published by Professor MI Ali, A Hossain, M Islam and AQ Sarker in the Physical Review.
This short summary of Dr Hossain's distinguished research career in physics gives us an idea of his immense knowledge on the scattering of nuclear particles from other nuclear particles. He has also published several papers on elastic scattering of other particles.
The impressive publication list of Dr Hossain earned him recognition as the most active scientist in the then East Pakistan. Dr Hossain served his nation with great distinction, dedication and zeal. Dr Hossain's last paper was a talk on the peaceful uses of atomic energy which he delivered at the Defence Science Command and Staff College of Dhaka on June 15, 1978. The optical model which he loved very much was used in the paper and it was suggested to him by Burge and Fujimoto.
Dr Hossain and his student M Syeduzzaman took the suggestion of the famous nuclear physicist Professor Weisskopf and carried out the calculations using the imaginary part of the potential in the form of (42+i63) with a slightly different form of the imaginary part of the optical model. Dr Hossain and M Syeduzzaman were quite happy to mention in their paper that in the case of He4 scattering, a slight improvement was obtained but in the case of A40, "a much better fit" was the result. This improvement allowed them to suggest that most significantly "taking into account the shape of the nuclear potential well at the boundary and 'even including' a spin-orbit coupling term in the potential was indicated by results." This was a great achievement for the two young researchers. Both Hossain and M Syeduzzaman should be congratulated even today for their brilliant predictions of the existence of the spin-orbit interaction in the nuclear potential which is now an accepted fact.
Like all true physicists, Dr Anwar Hossain was a colourful figure in the history of scientific research. Dr Hossain was an uncompromising pragmatist who believed in the distinction between the two human representational facilities of man: the intellect and the imagination. Like all physicists, he regarded the former as the source of all adequate ideas and the latter as that of all inadequate or incomplete ideas. Physics gave him the idea of investigating the nucleus as pictured by the optical model but he knew that human intellect must play the principal role in giving the "true" representation of the core of the matter as it is in nature.
Dr Hossain was entirely devoted to his favourite optical model and he even tried to build a picture of the chaotic human society on the basis of such a model. He was in his own way in search of the ideal human society and "the right way of living". To his admiring students, he always tried to impress upon them the idea that the highest human good lies in adequate knowledge of nature which is itself ever-expanding and everlasting. But the important thing to remember is that nature is knowable by man through "experiments".
Personally speaking, I consider myself fortunate enough to have had the opportunity of getting to know him and his gracious wife over the years, and to be able to say that these two people made a life worth living.
Acknowledgement: I am grateful to my student, M Habibullah, for his help in writing this short tribute in honour of our great friend Dr Anwar Hossain, who laid the foundation of nuclear physics research in Dhaka.
AM Harun ar Rashid is a former professor of physics at Dhaka University, a Kali Narayan Scholar and a recipient of the Swadhinata Padak.