Bashir Syed

Bashir Syed or Bashir A. Syed, Sc.D., (Died 1 June 2015 in Houston, TX) was Pakistani-American solar physicist and a NASA research scientist in the field of Robotics and solar sciences. He was the member of New York Academy of Sciences. He produced numerous articles on resolving the energy crises in the world and is attributed with establishing the wind power and Solar power plants in the Pakistan. He also inducted a separate research institutions on solar physics and technology at SUPARCO and PAEC.

Personal life
Bashir Ahmed Syed was the oldest of 3 brothers and 3 sisters: Saeed A Syed,Farhat Naz, Iffat Naz, Abdul Majid Syed, Moonis Syed, and Kaukab Naz. After his retirement, he enjoyed a quiet life and managed to keep up with everything else, from his vice presidency to his own personal ambitions.

Education and life
Syed received his education in Karachi, Pakistan. He attended and graduated from DJ Science College then received his B.Sc. in physics from DJ Science College. He taught at DJ Science College, and supervised the education of renowned dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Syed was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the United States in 1953, settling in Austin, Texas. He attended University of Texas, Austin where he was awarded his Doctor of Science in Solar Physics. His first job was with the Rockwell International Science Centre where he worked on Support US-EPA Contract for Air Pollution Monitoring through Remote Site. He also worked in the United States Department of Defense for an undisclosed amount of time. He became a NASA scholar and moved to Washington D.C where he joined NASA as a solar physicist.

NASA career
Bashir Syed joined NASA in 1989 while working at General Electric as a contractor. He was transferred to the International Space Station as a solar technologist. As a NASA Scientist he worked in the United States Space Program. Mr Syed played a major role in the project from the design phase till the construction phase. He also participated in the Space Shuttle Modification Programme "since the shuttle had developed some faults and the system had become very old." Dr. Syed worked on the development of NASA's space probes. He is a specialist on cosmic and solar radiation. As a result, he was in charge of space radiation effects on space craft and their components. He was heavily involved in the production and development of Mars Pathfinder. He also worked as an astronaut trainer and in the astronaut development program. He also worked in the United States Mercury project where he did research in Solar produced plasmas. He retired from NASA on September 22, 2002. He continued his research in the field of microtechnology, especially carbon nanotubes.

After his retirement, Dr. Bashir Syed founded EnerTech Enterprises based in Houston, USA. He is currently serving as its vice president. His company heavily supports NASA Mars Project and provides cosmic and solar radiation equipment for NASA. After his retirement, he joined Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission where he continued his research in the field of solar physics and astronomy. He also trained a small team of Pakistani scientists and engineers in the field of solar technology while working as a SUPARCO official.

Scientific papers and publications

 * Conducting Polymers and the Evolving Electronics Technology by Bashir Syed.
 * Susceptibility of “Ultracapacitors” to Proton and Gamma Irradiation by S. Shojah-Ardalan, R. Wilkins,H. U. Machado, Bashir Syed, S. McClure, B. Rax, L. Scheick, M. Weideman, C. Yui, M. Reed and Z. Ahmed

More info

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 * http://nepp.nasa.gov/eeelinks/July2001/Articles/BashirSyedArticleLinks701FinalRevision.htm
 * http://parts.jpl.nasa.gov/docs/NSREC03_W13.pdf