Permanent address:
Salam Summershine Resorta, Road No. 11 (old 32)
Dhanmondi Residential Area, Dhaka
S.B. (MIT: major in Physics and Mathematics)
B.S. in Physics (CALTECH: major in Physics) Ph.D. in Astrophysics (black holes) (Harvard) Swartz Fellow in Center for Brain Science, Harvard
Maiden name: Sultana Razia
Matriculation of East pakistan Secondary Education Board: Gold Medal for being the top female school-leaver of
East Pakistan as well as a special prize for outstanding performance in Mathematics. Intermediate Science of Dhaka University : 7th position in the combined list. B.Sc. (Honours in Physics Examination of Dhaka University: First Class. M.Sc. in Physics of Dhaka University: first woman to stand First
in First Class. Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics (Cavendish laboratory, Cambridge University, England) Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. Professor at the Physics
Department of Dhaka University now, research in
Atmospheric Physics. National Honours include being Secretary (twice) of Bangladesh Physical Society and
Vice-President of BPS, Bangladesh Association of Scientists and
Bangladesh Association for Advancement of Science;
national contact person of Asian Physics Education Network presenting country papers on Physics Education in Japan, Philippines and
Malaysia; presented papers in Women in Science conferences
in Egypt and Trieste under the sponsorship of Third World Academy of
Science, Trieste. Provost of
Shamsun Nahar Hall of Dhaka University 1996-2002.
Chairperson of the Physics Department of Dhaka University (present).
Family:
Maternal uncles: Abu Naser Ahmed, the businessman, was President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce; Nazir Ahmed was the Founder-Director of the FDC (Dhaka's Hollywood) and a famous media man, working for BBC for many years; artist Hamidur Rahman designed the Shahid Minar dedicated to the language martyrs; Saeed Ahmed was a top civil servant and a pioneer playwright who introduced modern concepts into Bangla plays. Only son among
seven children of Abdus
Salam, editor of the Pakistan (later Bangladesh) Observer,
went to St. Gregory's School; secured top position among all school-leavers of East Pakistan; then to Notre Dame
College, to create a new college record of 90%
marks, retained top position in the I.Sc. Examination of Dhaka
University; went to the Physics Department of Dhaka University, became the
first person to get 80% in the Honours Examination; received the Award of the President of Pakistan for the Best
Undergraduate student of East Pakistan.
After M.Sc., again the top student in the university, was
awarded the overseas merit scholarship of the Government of Pakistan
and went to Cambridge. Sultana joined a year later after their
marriage.
Ph.D. was on
phenomenological high energy physics and computing remains
favourite pastime. Founder-Director of the
Institute of Information Technology of Dhaka University, and then Chairman of the Physics Department; looks intermittently into Complex Systems, stability of macromolecules, black holes 'with hair', and assorted
topics. Edited The Physicist - journal of
Bangladesh Physical Society - for more than a decade, was Convener of the Physics section of the National
School Syllabus Review Committee and also Convener of the Peer
Review Committee of the Ministry of Science and ITC for projects in
physical sciences for many years. Early days : Album email:
ashafee@univdhaka.edu 
