Nergis Mavalvala draws thousands to Habib University for 10th Yohsin Lecture

KARACHI: Thousands of Karachiites converged on Habib University to hear Dr Nergis Mavalvala, Dean of the School of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), deliver the 10th Yohsin Lecture, “The Joy of Discovery: Curiosity, Science, and the Pivotal Role of Universities.”

The MIT physicist and leading figure in the Nobel Prize-winning LIGO collaboration addressed a packed auditorium on Friday, with students, faculty, alumni, academics, industry leaders, members of the scientific community and the wider public in attendance.

An extraordinary public response resulted in estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people making their way to Habib University, with long queues and people filling spaces across the campus to hear Dr Mavalvala in person.

Dr Mavalvala’s lecture closed a two-day visit to Habib University that became a significant moment in Karachi’s intellectual calendar.

In her lecture, Dr Mavalvala asked why human beings seek knowledge at all, particularly knowledge with no obvious immediate use. Reflecting on humanity’s enduring appetite for curiosity, she said: “Even pre-human cultures were looking up at the sky, in part because it was just mysterious. A hundred years from now the only thing that will matter is that we’ve opened a new window into the universe.”

Pushing back against the idea that curiosity must justify itself in advance, she argued that some of humanity’s most consequential discoveries began as questions with no obvious payoff, and that universities carry a responsibility beyond training professionals: to cultivate wonder, creativity, perseverance and intellectual freedom.

“Many, many thanks to [President] Wasif and colleagues at Habib University, to the board, to the Mohsineen who made this place possible. Everything I’ve done here has told me that your vision and your generosity was every bit worth it. I’ve met with a number of students and alumni and just have been wowed,” she told the audience.

President Wasif Rizvi spoke of what Dr Mavalvala’s presence and the public response signified for Habib University and the community of Mohsineen whose generosity continues to make a world-class education accessible to those who deserve and seek it.

“I have professional sympathy as well for the detection of faint signals, as the president who raises funds for the most generous private university in the country. Access of this kind had not been attempted in Pakistan before. It exists because the community in this room and outside decided that it should. The students in this hall are the answer to anyone who asks what it is that philanthropy can do,” he said.

The lecture capped two days of sustained engagement across the University. Dr Mavalvala toured the campus with the Habib University team, held a substantive conversation with faculty on nurturing curiosity in the classroom, and met science and humanities students drawn from leading schools across Karachi.

She spent time with Habib University students and alumni and joined sessions with the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation, as well as Pakistan’s wider scientific community, strengthening a shared commitment to investment in homegrown scientific and academic excellence.

Her conversations with university leadership also looked beyond the immediate visit, exploring how a liberal arts undergraduate institution such as Habib can continue to cultivate students’ appetite for curiosity, as well as the enduring joy and importance of teaching and mentorship.

Following the lecture, an extended question-and-answer session turned to questions of opportunity, research and investment in science in Pakistan.

“Every single person at birth is research-minded. The reason some of us get to do it in adulthood is [access to] opportunity. Research has shown there is no investment that any government does that has greater return than investment in research and science,” Dr Mavalvala said.

The 10th Yohsin Lecture was among the most widely attended in the series’ history, according to the university.

Rooted in Habib University’s founding philosophy of Yohsin, the thoughtful cultivation of the self, the lecture series seeks to bring some of the world’s leading thinkers into direct conversation with Pakistan.

Through the Yohsin Lecture Series, Habib University has brought Karachi into dialogue with leading minds including Noam Chomsky, Ashis Nandy, Reza Aslan, Azra Raza and Thomas Blom Hansen.

Dr Mavalvala’s lecture carried that tradition forward, demonstrating the role a university can play not only in educating its own students but also in creating intellectual opportunities for the city and the wider public it serves.

Conversations continued well beyond the lecture itself, as attendees gathered at a reception on the university’s Central Street, carrying forward the questions and ideas the evening had opened.