KU prof comes to aid of another KU: Kabul University

Adrian Melott

Adrian Melott, KU professor of physics and astronomy, recently helped a different "KU" by giving the gift of knowledge.

Melott led a drive to collect books to replenish the decimated library at Kabul University in Afghanistan. The school recently reopened and has begun readmitting women, who were prohibited from attending the university when the Taliban took control of the nation's government in 1996.

Melott, who visited Afghanistan for two months in 1973, said he had always wanted to go back but that the conditions in the country prevented him from returning. He knew the school would need help after the recent fighting devastated Kabul and its university.

"I had at one time heard they were looking for books to rebuild the library," Melott said. "I filed it in the back of my mind and decided to act on it."

Melott estimated the department of physics and astronomy was donating about 50 books, mostly physics and math texts. The books will be sent by ship to the UNESCO office in Islamabad, Pakistan, then trucked through the Khyber Pass and into Kabul.

#top#