Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy

Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy (b. 1950) is a Professor of Physics at the Quaide-Azam University, Islamabad. He received his BA in electrical engineering and mathematics, MA in solid state physics and PhD in nuclear physics, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Hoodbhoy is a recipient of many awards. In 1984, he was awarded the Abdus Salam Prize for mathematics. He is also a recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for popularizing science in Pakistan through television documentary series. Hoodbhoy is chairman of Marshal, a non-profit organization that publishes books in Urdu on women’s rights, education, environmental issues, philosophy and modern thought. He had written extensively on the issues of science and Islam, education in Pakistan and nuclear disarmament. He is also a prolific speaker, lecturing in various American campuses including MIT, Princeton and John Hopkins University. He had also appeared on several television and radio networks, including CNN, BBC, PBS and Fox, analyzing political and social developments in South Asia. His immensely popular book, Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality had since been translated into five different languages.