Pakistan no doubt has excellent talent, the only thing lacking is the organization and management of resources, human and natural alike to take into concern available opportunities. In search of talent, we came across Asad, an FSc pre-engineering student who resides in Okara, Punjab. He has a passion in optics, and was initially inspired by his glasses and then started to play with different lenses. This inspiration led to innovation, he had built a lunar telescope at home, which is very much effective, and magnified images of the moon can be seen from his rooftop. His guide in this journey of his was Mr. Ali Khan, lets’s hear what Asad has to say.
Q: Please introduce yourself.
My name is Asad Mehmood. I am hailing from the small city Okara/Punjab.I am a student of F.Sc pre-engineering at DPS & College Okara.
Q: Please tell us about your project/idea.
The project that I successfully completed is of a reflecting telescope of Newtonian design. It is Pakistan’s 5th largest telescope and it has a mirror of a diameter 6″. The focal ratio of the mirror is f/11 and thus the focal length is 180 cm. I’ve ground, polished and parabolize this mirror myself in a couple of months.
Q: How were you first interested in this field of science?
Actually, I like all science fields, but have a special interest in this field naturally. Due to my glasses, my interest in this field increased and I started performing different experiments at different behaviors of lenses.
Q: There are a lot of scientific fields out there but what interests you in this particular field?
Though there are a lot of many other fields, “Optics” has been a field of deep interest for me since my childhood. Since I am also an Amateur Astronomer, that’s why I wanted to explore space by using my handmade telescope.
Q4: How did you get the idea to make this project?
In fact, while working with convex and concave lenses, I used to make small refracting telescopes and nice microscopes. It extended my thinking to build a larger telescope, which is too expensive to import, and which can be used for planetary observation in the best way.
Q: Who was your inspiration and what inspires you to presume this field?
In 2009, Sir Umair Asim and Ali Khan from Lahore along with his team arranged an event for lunar and planetary observing sessions in my school. At that time, I saw a telescope for the first time in my life in real. It was a 14″ reflecting telescope. So, I decided to make a telescope nearly similar to that one.
Q: What is your ultimate goal?
My ultimate goal is to become a Scientist having a great knowledge about all branches of Science. Either it is “Optics” or “Electronics”, “Mechanics” or “Thermodynamics”, I want to get a vast knowledge about all of them to serve my country.
Q: Where do you like Pakistan to stand? What plans do you have for Pakistan, if any?
I would love to build the largest telescope of Pakistan. I want that Pakistan may earn a good repute and prosper rapidly.
Q8: What troubles did you have while making the project?
In the act of every positive work, there are always some negative hurdles, which cause us to stop, but if we are consistent then nobody can prevent our way to prosper. I had a large number of troubles during this project. Unavailability of material required, coating chamber, mount building goods, OTA etc. But still I tried to manage my work in some other way that could be possible.
Q: Who was your guide?
My guide was a great person Ali Khan who forwarded me to the foreign countries’ Telescope Making experts. He also kept on helping me in various projects to a great extent as he could do.
Q: Was it easy gathering the material and resources for you project?
It was not easy at all to gather material and resources. I needed to go to other big cities like Lahore to search market and to find my required materials. For this purpose Sir Ali Khan had a great piece of help for me to explore the market.
Q: How do you think that the government and schools should help people like you?
I think in every educational institution of good fame and repute, though it is under government, semi govt. or private, there must be a particular department of since club in which the students which want to do something extra ordinary should be invited and provided them with facilities so that they may endeavor their talent.
Q: Where were your projects performed at home, school, and collage laboratory?
My projects were totally performed at home.
Q: How did you build your technical skills?
With the passage of time ever since I had continued my project, the technical skills kept on building in me and I started feeling much more like experts with learning new skills on daily basis.
Q: Did you follow the scientific method or just built it naturally?
Both probabilities are right to some extent. I built it naturally as well as followed a scientific method. The start of my project was actually following scientific method but afterwards, I carried on naturally which contributed to my learning a lot.
Q: Were you creative when doing your projects? If yes, what drives your creativity?
Yes, I was creative while performing my projects. It was due to uncountable zeal in me to finally achieve the best and desired results and to get the destination successfully.
Q: Did your family, friends or teachers help in your projects?
Unfortunately, no one helped me in my project except my father who facilitated me everything that I required because he was a little sure that I could perform this difficult and laborious task.
Q: Do you like to give any message to fellow students, the public and the government from the platform of the Pakistan Science Club?
I would like to share my feelings that there is a great talent in the students of Pakistan, which is lying idle somewhere in us, and we are not trying to get it. So we must have to aware of it and spread our talent out of the world by wonderful inventions so that our beautiful country may contribute towards the progress and earn fame in the most developed countries. Amin!