Abdul Qadeer Kan Pakistani nuclear scientist, founder and director of the Pakistani nuclear program. Date of Birth: 01.04.1936 Country: India

1. Early Life and Education
2. Nuclear Career
3. The Nuclear Program
4. Home Arrest

Early Life and Education

Abdul Qadeer Khan was born in 1936 in Bhopal, India, into a Pashtun family. After the partition of India in 1947, his family relocated to Pakistan. Khan attended St. Anthony's High School in Lahore and later pursued a bachelor's degree in metallurgy from the University of Karachi.

Nuclear Career

In 1961, Khan moved to Germany to study metallurgy at the Technical University. Following his graduation in 1967, he obtained his doctoral degree in 1972. He began his career at a physics laboratory in Amsterdam, which was a subcontractor for URENCO, a joint venture between West Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands for uranium enrichment.

The Nuclear Program

In 1974, India conducted its first nuclear weapons test. Khan, who held a senior position at URENCO at the time, was believed to have acquired classified nuclear information. In 1975, he returned to Pakistan with these secrets.

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto tasked Khan with developing a uranium-based nuclear bomb. Khan was given control of a research laboratory, later renamed after him. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission pursued a plutonium-based bomb program under Munir Ahmad Khan. Both programs were eventually merged, leading to the successful detonation of a uranium-based nuclear bomb on May 28, 1998.

Home Arrest

In 2004, Khan confessed on national television to selling nuclear materials and equipment. He was subsequently placed under house arrest and denied contact with foreign investigators. Khan implied that his actions were sanctioned by the Pakistani leadership, including President Musharraf.

In 2007, Benazir Bhutto announced that she would allow foreign investigators, including the IAEA, to question Khan if her party won the election. However, after her assassination, the new leadership of the Pakistan People's Party declined to permit such interrogations.