Muhammad Rafique (mathematician)
Muhammad Rafique, was a Pakistani mathematician and professor of mathematics at the Punjab University. He was a versatile scholar who authored textbooks on computer language and special relativity. He was belated co-author of textbook Group Theory for High Energy Physicists, which was eventually published years after his death in 2016.Biographical overview
Rafique was born in Lahore, Punjab in India on 2 January 1940, and was educated at the Punjab University where he graduated with BA with First-class honours in Mathematics in 1960. He served in the Faculty of Mathematics at the Punjab University where he graduated with MA in Mathematics in 1964, and earned a scholarship to study mathematics in the United Kingdom. He attended the University of North Wales where he attained MA in Mathematics in 1965, followed by submitting his doctoral thesis there, and graduated with PhD in Mathematics in 1967.
Upon returning to Pakistan, he joined the Punjab University and taught there until 1971 when he joined the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Italy as post-doctoral scholar. From 1972–77, Rafique worked at the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology where he contributed his work on fast neutron calculations for atomic weapons which built his interests in theory of relativity and nuclear physics.
From 1977–82, he served on the faculty of University of Tripoli in Libya, and served as a Chairman of Department of Mathematics at the Punjab University from 1983 until 1992 when he went to teach mathematics at the King Fahd University in Saudi Arabia. His tenure at the King Fahd University was short-lived and passed away due to cardiac arrest on 16 June 1992. Although a mathematician, Rafique was a prolific author on physics, was writing a college text on Group theory's applications on high energy physics with Mohammad Saleem at the time of his death in 1992. The college book was eventually published in 2015-2016 by British publisher Taylor & Francis.Textbooks
