The founding father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan who was admitted to hospital due to lung disease passed away this morning.
Born on 1st April 1936, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was 85 years old. He was born in Bhopal, India and he migrated to West Pakistan in 1952, at the age of 16.
Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was graduated from the University of Karachi with a degree in metallurgy. Later he pursued his education abroad, in West Berlin and then in Delft, Netherlands, where he received a master’s degree in metallurgy in 1967.
In 1972, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan received his doctorate in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Khan was known for his expertise in nuclear physics and he had enjoyed special access to America’s nuclear facility URENCO. He was the one who played a key role in developing nuclear infrastructure in Pakistan, an infrastructure that was opposed by the west but Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan dedicated all his skills to make Pakistan a nuclear power.