Retiring after 35 years of service, NIU Physics Professor Mazhar Hasan will be receiving a festschrift in honor of his hard work and dedication.

A festschrift is not a surgical operation or odd form of a handkerchief. It is, in fact, a book. But not just any book, it is a volume of writings that is made to honor a distinguished scholar on a special anniversary or celebration like Hasan’s retirement.

At a Physics Colloquium on Dec. 3 at 3:10 p.m. in Faraday Hall room 144, Hasan will be presented with the printed volume honoring him, and several of Hasan’s colleagues will be offering brief presentations in his honor.

Presentations will cover broad topics, ranging from religion to high energy physics.

Physics Professor Thomas Rossing said, “He exemplifies all that is good here at the university. He is a gentleman, outstanding teacher and a fine scholar.”

Rossing added the university should be looking at scholarship among teachers more than it does and pointed to Hasan as a good example of what every teacher should strive to be.

Since receiving a Ph.D. in nuclear physics from Illinois Institute of Technology in 1958, Hasan has received many awards. He received the Excellence in Teaching and Administration Award from King Abdulaziz University of Saudi Arabia in 1982, the Outstanding Educators of America Award in 1972 and 1975, the Excellence in Teaching Award at NIU and two Fulbright Scholar awards—one for Shivaz University in Iran in 1968 and 1969 and the other for Nuclear Center of Tehran in 1967 and 1968.

As for retirement, Hasan said he will not be teaching but does plan to continue his research.

Hasan now is doing research in controlled thermal nuclear fusion which deals a lot with plasma physics. He anticipates the introduction of fusion instead of fission nuclear reactors by early in the next century because of the higher safety levels that fusion reactors could provide.

When asked how he felt about the honor being presented to him Hasan said, “I feel honored; I am happy about it (the award).”