Samar Mubarakmand Samar Mubarakmand , NI , HI , SI , FPAS ( Urdu : ثمر مبارک مند ; born 17 September 1942 ) , is a Pakistani nuclear physicist known for his research in gamma spectroscopy and experimental development of the linear accelerator . He came to public attention as the director of the team responsible for the performing the country ' s first and successful atomic tests ( see " Chagai - I " and " Chagai - II " ) in the Chagai weapon testing laboratories , located in the Balochistan Province of Pakistan . Prior to that , he was the project director of the integrated missile programme and supervised the development of first Shaheen - I missile program in 1995 . He was also the founding chairman of Nescom from 2001 until 2007 . He was subsequently appointed by the government to assist the Thar coalfield project . Education . Samar Mubarakmand was born in Rawalpindi , Punjab Province of the British Indian Empire , on 17 September 1942 . He earned his education from Lahore and matriculated from the St . Anthony ' s High School in 1956 . After passing the university entrance exams , he enrolled at the Physics Department of Government College University where he studied physics under RM Chaudhry . He earned his undergraduate , B . Sc . degree , in Physics in 1958 , and entered in the post - graduate school of Government College University . He conducted his research at the High Tension Laboratory ( HTL ) , and his master ' s thesis contained the detail work on the construction and development of the Gamma ray spectrometer . His master ' s thesis was supervised under the close collaboration of RM Chaudhry and subsequently awarded the Master in Nuclear physics in 1962 from Government College University . In 1962 , he won a doctoral scholarship and commenced doctoral research at Oxford University . At Oxford , he studied Compton scattering and the dynamical theory of Gamma spectroscopy with Shaukat Hameed Khan . After his long doctoral research , he submitted his doctoral thesis on experimental nuclear physics and was awarded his PhD in experimental nuclear physics from the University of Oxford in 1966 under the renowned nuclear physicist D . H . Wilkinson . During his time in Oxford , Mubarakmand closely collaborated and studied with Shaukat Hameed Khan at the Physics Department , learning about the Linear accelerator s , and after returning to Pakistan he built one . At Oxford , he was part of the team that commissioned a 22 million volt atomic accelerator . After returning to Pakistan , Mubarakmand was posted by the government at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1966 . Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission ( PAEC ) . In 1966 , he was encouraged by senior scientist Naeem Ahmad Khan to join the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology ( PINSTECH ) to do his post - doctoral research in physics . In 1967 , he was joined the " Nuclear Physics Group " ( NPG ) working under the direction of Naeem Ahmad Khan , and had worked closely on Bashiruddin Mahmood and Hafeez Qureshi on engineering problems involving the reactor physics and the methods involving the gas centrifuge s . 1971 war and atomic bomb project . In January 1972 , Mubarakmand was assigned to Ishfaq Ahmad ' s Nuclear Physics Division where he immersed himself in work on the project ' s physics calculations in implosion method , and mathematical multiplication involved in nuclear fission . In 1974 , on the advise of Abdus Salam , the PAEC had formed the Fast Neutron Physics Group , and had impressed Ahmad enough to be made a group ' s founding director . As a junior physicist , he was the greater part of his work was to conclude the calculation of neutron energy ' s distributive ranges and power produced by the neutrons , after the detonation process . In September 1973 , Mubarakmand then began the work on simultaneity , key calculations involving to investigate detonation of the weapon from several points at the same time , but the calculations were distributed among the Mathematics group under Asghar Qadir , and the Theoretical Physics Group ( TPG ) under Abdus Salam and Riazuddin as it felt that the calculations would be better off , as it involved complex mathematical and physics applications of Einstein ' s Special and General relativity . Later , Mubarakmand assisted in developing the first high performance supercomputing programs at the PAEC . In 1978 , Mubarakmand led the construction of a nuclear and particle linear accelerator , and the neutron generator at the secret Pinstech Laboratory . In 1980 , Mubaramand was elevated as the director of the diagnostic group that was charged with the test teams , and was made responsible for the countdown for the detonation of the weapon . On March 11 of 1983 , Mubarakmand was one of the few scientists that were invited to eye - witnessed the cold test of theoretically designed weapon , codename " Kirana - I " . Mubarakmand led the countdown of the weapon while TPG and MPG calculated the yield . In 1987 , Mubarakmand was transferred to the Directorate for Technical Development ( DTD ) — a secret directorate to develop explosive lens es and triggering mechanism for the fission weapon . There , along with Hafeez Qureshi , Mubarakmand provided the technical assistance to the engineers there . At Pinstech Laboratory , Mubarakmand built another nuclear accelerator to conduct studies of an explosion process in a fission weapon . For his own role in the project and DTD , Mubarakmand later concluded : " Engineer people ( referring to Hafeez Qureshi and Zaman Sheikh ) , at DTD , were really smart . They were trained very thoroughly in the development of a weapon ' s necessary materials at very low cost . " Mubarakmand first visited in Chagai Hills in 1981 , along with Ishfaq Ahmad and other scientists from different divisions . In 1998 , in the absence of Ishfaq Ahmad , Mubarakmand had briefly directed then - Prime minister Nawaz Sharif as he was first responsible for the preparations of tests . However , after Ishfaq Ahmad arrived , Mubarakmand was made responsible for the preparations of the tests . In May 28 , 1998 , Mubarakmand led the countdown of tests — codename Chagai - I — in Ras Koh Hills of Chagai region . On May 30 , Ishfaq Ahmad received permission from the Prime minister , and Mubarakmand led the a very small team of academic scientists that supervised the country ' s plutonium fission weapon — codename Chagai - II . In the 1990s , he served as the Director General of National Defence Complex , another Pakistani organization shrouded in secrecy . On a day when Mubarakmand was interviewed by Hamid Mir on his program Capital Talk , Mubarakmand eulogized his memories and said : Recalling Munir Ahmad Khan and PAEC ' s role and its relation to the famous atomic bomb project priority dispute , Mubarakmand later said that : Space programme . After his active role in Pakistan ' s integrated atomic bomb project , Mubarakmand took personal initiatives in the development of the space program where he largely contributed his research in computational fluid dynamics , aerodynamics , and fluid physics . In Pakistan ' s scientific circle , he is known as " father of Pakistan ' s missile program " where he has reportedly been present at the flight test facilities of Pakistan . In 1987 , Ministry of Defence , jointly collaborating with Ministry of Science , initiated the integrated missile program , an equivalent program to India ' s Integrated Guided Missile Development Program ( IGMDP ) . The government assigned the projects to be jointly led under the leadership of Samar Mubarakmand and Abdul Qadeer Khan . In 1995 , Mubarakmand became chief project coordinator of Shaheen program , and the following year , Mubarakmand was made director of the missile program . Mubarakmand ' s team successfully developed the solid boosters and solid engine for Shaheen - I program . This was later followed by developing the Shaheen - II , Shaheen - III , Babur missile , and the Ghaznavi missile system . As a " Science and Technology " member at the Planning Commission of Pakistan , he has been staunch supporter of rocket science in the country . Talking to the media on August 18 , 2009 , Mubarakmand has Pakistan would launch its own satellite in April 2011 it made some things seem all to obvious to analyst familiar with the subject . He described the satellite as being able to monitor agricultural programs , minerals programs and weather conditions and that it was funded by the Pakistani Planning Commission . He went on to say there were sufficient funds for the defense , nuclear and space programs . Whether this will be a less than 100 kg first test satellite or a much heavier satellite remains to be seen . Thar Coal Power Project . Mubarakmand is currently supervising coal mining practiced on scientific lines for the Thar Coal Power Project . Popular legacy and honors . Samar Mubarakmand is widely credited with bringing modernization in the design and development of many components and instruments that are the backbone of Pakistan ' s nuclear and missile technology . Mubarakmand is honored with Pakistan ' s highest civilian awards ; Sitara - e - Imtiaz in 1993 ; followed by Hilal - e - Imtiaz in 1998 and the Nishan - e - Imtiaz in 2003 . In 2000 , he secured the fellowship of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences ( PAS ) , and was inducted by his mentor Ishfaq Ahmad . In 2007 , Samar Mubarakmand was promoted to government portfolio and held the office of the special assistant to the Prime minister on Science and Technology which he held until April 2008 . On 16 December 2008 , he was sent to join the Planning Commission as a member of the science and technology bureau headed by his mentor , Ishfaq Ahmad , since 2008 .