First the election, now the universe

"If I die without having attempted this, I won't die content."

After starting out as a builder and moving on to politics, former Nationalist Party secretary general Joe Saliba has leapt into yet another line: quantum physics.

He has worked round the clock to prove - or disprove, for that matter - a theory that has been brewing in his mind since his first brush with the subject about 15 years ago. And it seems he is on the right track.

But that is not even the point. What counts is that: "If I die without having attempted this, I won't die content".

Mr Saliba cannot disclose what he is thinking. He just says that if he succeeds in proving it "the world would remain the same and humanity would not change but, like every other discovery, the way we look at things would".

In a nutshell, he is inquiring into the dynamics of space and trying to answer why and how matter affects it. If he succeeds, it would be another step in the direction of linking the four forces - gravity, strong, weak and electromagnetic - that govern the universe.

"The whole concept is in my mind and a theory has emerged, which I have expressed with experts in the field, including Fr Peter Serracino Inglott. However, verifying it mathematically is going to be long and hard, involving lots of matrix and geometrical workings."

Right now, this - and only this - is his challenge. "Even if my thoughts on the subject are incorrect, at least I would have put my mind at rest that I carried out the search. I have to do it. And, in the process, I would have learnt other things.

"I always challenged everything - even in my political life. I never just accept things. The best example is when almost everyone thought we would lose the last election but I refused to accept it," he says.

One of the few attempting to answer the question, Mr Saliba is consoled by the fact that discoveries are often made by those who have not spent their entire lives working on them.

Speaking from his study, where he spends much more time these days, Mr Saliba keeps up the modesty saying that "the only good thing is that, in my search for the truth in an orderly universe, I am discovering it in the uncertainty of the quantum world".

While it may not be the most likely career path, Mr Saliba has a history of not adhering to the straight and narrow, driven by a strong dose of curiosity, imagination and an inquisitive mind.

"A politician is not necessarily only interested in politics... Moreover, I have always been an avid reader and particularly into theatre, art, architecture and philosophy."

For 15 years he was connected and confined to political spheres but it was not the only thing on his agenda.

"Politics leaves no time for anything and I had to cut off. But in my mind I not only had the desire to learn more about quantum physics and cosmology, I also managed to develop some thoughts on the subject, which I hope to conclude in the next few years.

"When I was secretary general, I had to cut down on reading. Now is my time for that," he says, having just closed the book Outlier, about people who stand out in life. It has nothing to do with science but there are piles of those around.

Out of the media spotlight - or so he thinks - the man behind one referendum and three electoral victories is enjoying his new life.

Today, when he walks down Republic Street, in Valletta - where he used to be accosted by people making demands - he is just asked how he is doing.

He has had requests to write two plays, a television series and a film in Maltese but he turned them down. "You cannot do everything, although I am still dabbling in writing."

When he resigned from the post of secretary general last June, Mr Saliba totally dedicated his first two months, night and day, to concluding his thoughts on his secret theory. Now, he just has to prove it...