Mohammad Anwar Chaudhri

It is very sad to report that Mohammad Anwar Chaudhri passed away on 11 November 2017 at his house in Nürnberg, Germany. A fall resulted in a brain hemorrhage, and he died peacefully a few hours later.

Anwar was born in Kahnaur, Rohtak, India on 18 November 1939. The partition of India into Pakistan and Hindustan took place in August 1947, and the entire Chaudhri family migrated to Lahore, Pakistan in the summer of 1948.

Anwar was educated at Government College, Lahore (now Government College University, Lahore). He obtained his BSc (honors) in 1957 and his MSc (physics) in 1959 from the University of Punjab, Lahore. In the MSc examination he was the top student in his class at Government College, and he came second in order of merit in the whole university. In the final year of his MSc, Anwar was trained in experimental nuclear physics at the High Tension and Nuclear Research Laboratory, Government College, Lahore under the supervision of his father, the late Rafi M. Chaudhri. It was at this laboratory that most of the first generation of Pakistani atomic and nuclear physicists was trained.

In 1959 Anwar went to the world-famous Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, for higher studies in experimental nuclear physics. Then, in 1962, he went to University of Heidelberg, Germany, and obtained his doctorate of natural science in experimental nuclear physics in 1965.

Anwar Chaudhri’s professional career started almost immediately after he obtained his doctorate. First, he took up short-term assignments at the Brown Boveri Company at Mannheim and then at AEG Frankfurt, where he worked on neutrons generated by cyclotrons. In early 1968 Anwar was appointed Head of the Isotope Physics Unit of the Medical Research Council, Hammersmith Hospital, London. It was at the MRC where Anwar developed his main research interest in applied nuclear and radiation sciences and the application of nuclear radiations to medicine. He worked on the use of neutron therapy for cancer treatment. In 1970 the University of Islamabad, Pakistan invited Anwar to develop applied nuclear sciences as a senior academic staff member. Unfortunately, Anwar did not find the general atmosphere at the department of physics of the university conducive to developing the new experimental area for which he had been invited to Pakistan. So in 1974 Anwar moved to the University of Melbourne, Australia, as a research fellow for a period of three years. After another year as a senior research associate at Flinders University, South Australia, Anwar was appointed the director of the department of medicine at Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and a senior associate at the University of Melbourne. It was at the Austin Hospital where Anwar spent his most productive period, during which he published most of his research papers (more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and a similar number in proceedings of international conferences). Besides his research interest in the application of neutrons for cancer treatment, Anwar also researched the use of trace elements for diagnosing bone density reduction (i.e. osteoporosis) in women and the elderly.

Anwar left Austin Hospital in 1995 for family reasons and returned to Nürnberg, Germany. From 1996 he held visiting professorships and associateships at several universities and medical institutions in Germany, namely the universities of Tuebigen, Erlangen, and the Klinikum Süd, Nürnberg. He was particularly keen on international collaboration and on the application of nuclear medicine in institutions in Pakistan.

Anwar Chaudhri’s work was recognized by several scholarly organizations, and he was honored by being elected a fellow of the Institute of Physics, UK, a fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, UK, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics, and an honorary fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences in Pakistan.

In his youth Anwar very much enjoyed playing cricket, and his interest in this sport continued until the last moment of life. He followed on TV and internet the Pakistani cricket team with great enthusiasm, and it gave him enormous pleasure when a Pakistan team did well.

Anwar was a friendly and kind-hearted person. He was very fond of his family and leaves behind his wife Ingetraud, daughters Ghazala and Yasmin, six grand and two great grandchildren. He will be very much missed by all who knew him.