Pakistan does not lack scientific heroes; it lacks the institutional memory required to remember them. We repeatedly celebrate borrowed technological achievements while allowing the stories of Pakistanis who actually built laboratories, introduced measurement standards and returned from promising careers abroad to serve their country to disappear behind official walls.
One such story is growing—or once grew prominently—inside the premises of the National Physical and Standards Laboratory in Islamabad: a sapling descended from the original Newton apple tree, presented in recognition of the laboratory’s development and the scientific relationship established between Pakistan’s NPSL and Britain’s National Physical Laboratory.
Behind that tree stands the work of Mr Khalid Islam, the Pakistani scientist who led NPSL from 2003 to 2008, developed its primary measurement capabilities, strengthened its international relationships and helped establish the scientific infrastructure through which Pakistan could maintain trustworthy national standards. He is also my father, and this account preserves a history witnessed, lived and narrated by the man who performed the work.
The Newton sapling was not merely a ceremonial plant. It was an acknowledgement of Pakistani scientific competence.
Khalid Islam and the building of NPSL
Mr Khalid Islam served as Director of the National Physical and Standards Laboratory between 2003 and 2008. As a founding scientist of NPSL, he contributed extensively to developing its primary laboratories and expanding its testing, calibration, standardization, SI-unit realization, training and technical consultancy services.
The laboratory was Pakistan’s National Metrology Institute, carrying a responsibility far greater than its relatively modest public profile suggested. It represented Pakistan within the international measurement community and built the traceability chains through which local measurements could be compared with internationally recognized standards.
Pakistan has been a Member State of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, or BIPM, since 12 July 1973. NPSL, now known internationally as the National Metrology Institute of Pakistan, formed the technical foundation of that participation.
Metrology may sound distant from ordinary life, but it silently governs almost everything a modern country produces. When an electrical meter records voltage, a pharmaceutical laboratory measures chemical quantities, a telecom system depends upon precise frequency, or a Pakistani manufacturer certifies the dimensions of an export product, someone must establish that the underlying measurement is accurate.
That is the world in which Khalid Islam worked: a world where mistakes are measured in fractions invisible to the human eye but capable of influencing entire industries.
| NPSL capability | National importance | Practical Pakistani impact |
|---|---|---|
| Primary measurement standards | Establishes authoritative national references | Ensures measurements remain consistent across Pakistan |
| Instrument calibration | Verifies the accuracy of technical equipment | Reduces industrial errors and improves safety |
| SI-unit traceability | Links local measurements to international units | Strengthens export and laboratory credibility |
| Time and frequency standards | Maintains highly precise timing references | Supports telecommunications, broadcasting and research |
| Testing services | Evaluates products and equipment against standards | Improves consumer protection and manufacturing quality |
| Technical training | Transfers specialist knowledge to industry | Develops Pakistani technical capacity |
| International comparisons | Compares national capabilities with other institutes | Demonstrates Pakistan’s competence globally |
These were not decorative scientific activities. They formed the invisible architecture of an industrial state.
