A list of 10 mind-blowing discoveries and inventions by Pakistanis
Over the years, Pakistanis have tied their names to several successes.
Pakistani scientists and innovators aren’t surrounded by significant media hype and paparazzi. This explains why most of their efforts go unnoticed while others go viral on the internet for creating something new. Over the years, Pakistanis have tied their names to several successes.
Here’s a list of the top 10 mind-blowing inventions and discoveries made by Pakistanis in different fields of research:
1. Economics
The Human Development Index was devised by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990. Its explicit purpose was “to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people-centered policies”.
2. Chemistry
Organic chemist and polymer scientist Naveed Zaidi developed the world’s first workable plastic magnet at room temperature.
3. Medicine
The Ommaya reservoir – a system for the delivery of drugs (e.g., chemotherapy) into the cerebrospinal fluid for treating patients with brain tumors – was developed by Ayub K. Ommaya, a Pakistani neurosurgeon.
A non-invasive technology for monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP) – developed by Faisal Kashif.
Two medical devices – a pleuroperitoneal shunt and a special endotracheal tube to supply oxygen during fiberoptic bronchoscopy in awake patients – were invented by Sayed Amjad Hussain, a Pakistani American doctor from Peshawar, Pakistan. His work made him an inductee into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame.
A non-kink catheter mount was designed by a Pakistani doctor, A. K. Jamil. He also developed a simple device for teaching controlled ventilation – a device through which young doctors can be trained on artificial ventilation of the lungs without Operation theater and patient.
4. Agriculture
In 2013, a Pakistani firm invented a new formula to make fertilizers that cannot be converted into bomb-making materials. The firm, Fatima Fertilizer, had succeeded in making non-lethal alternatives to ammonium nitrate. Fertilizers with ammonium nitrate can easily be converted into bomb-making ingredients. The Pentagon praised this invention. In a statement, US Army Lieutenant General Michael Barbero, the head of the Pentagon’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, said:
Such a long-term solution would be an actual scientific breakthrough.
After this invention, CNN reported that the United States and Pakistan agreed to make fertilizers with non-explosive materials jointly. But diplomatic sources told Dawn that an agreement could only be reached after testing the new material. The sources said that US experts would soon visit Pakistan for testing the new material with experts from the Fatima Group, Pakistan’s major fertilizer manufacturer.
5. Physics
Abdus Salam discovered electroweak interaction along with two Americans, Sheldon Lee Glashow, and Steven Weinberg. The discovery led them to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Abdus Salam, who, along with Steven Weinberg, independently predicted the existence of a subatomic particle now called the Higgs boson, was named after a British physicist who theorized that it endowed other particles with mass.
The development of the Standard Model of particle physics by Sheldon Glashow’s discovery in 1960 combined electromagnetic and weak interactions. In 1967 Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam incorporated the Higgs mechanism into Glashow’s electroweak theory, giving it its modern form.
Development of the SMB probe to detect heavy water leaks in nuclear power plants by Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood
In 2015 Pakistani researchers developed a solar-powered mobile phone network. The network, according to them, is helpful for instances when regular services are disrupted, such as earthquakes and floods.
Abdullah Soomro invented Flashpack, a power bank that can charge fully in just 14 minutes.
6. Music
The Sagar veena, a string instrument designed for classical music, was developed entirely in Pakistan over the last 40 years at the Sanjannagar Institute in Lahore by Raza Kazim.
7. Biology
Dr. Naweed Syed, a specialist in biomedical engineering and member of the medicine faculty at the University of Calgary, became the first scientist who managed to “connect brain cells to a silicon chip”. The discovery is a significant step in the research of integrating computers with human brains to help people control artificial limbs, monitor people’s vital signs, correct memory loss or impaired vision.
Dr. Samir Iqbal, an associate professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Arlington, developed a novel cancer cell detection method that improves early diagnosis through a tool that tracks cellular behavior in real-time using nanotextured walls that mimic layers of body tissue.
9. Computing
Computing A boot sector computer virus dubbed (c)Brain, one of the first computer viruses in history, was created in 1986 by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written.
Pakistani computer scientist Zeeshan-ul-Hassan Usmani designed a Software simulation based on blast forensics. It can reduce deaths by 12 percent and injuries by seven percent on average just by changing the way a crowd of people stands near an expected suicide bomber.
10. Other technology
A team headed by Professor Sohail Khan, a Pakistani researcher at Loughborough University, designed a clever lavatory that transforms human waste into biological charcoal and minerals. These can then be used as fuel or a conditioner for soil. It also produces clean water. The invention can lead to community-led total sanitation in the developing world. The challenge was set by Microsoft founder Bill Gates who wanted to improve sanitation for the poor and combat open defecation in countries where water supply and sewage pipe infrastructure is not widely available.
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