Dr Atta-ur-Rahman to be conferred highest Chinese scientific award

ISLAMABAD: Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman will be conferred the highest Chinese scientific award by the President of China on January 10 at The Great Peoples Hall in Beijing.

According to spokesman of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi (UoK) ''China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award'', for the year 2020 will be conferred on Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman in recognition of his monumental contributions in the field of chemistry.

This top international award has previously been given to several leading scientists of the world including Nobel Laureates, Dr. Carlo Rubbia (Nobel Prize in physics, 1984) and Dr. Zhores I. Alferov (Nobel Prize in physics, 2000), the spokesman added.

It is pertinent to mention here that China and Malaysia have also established major research centers in his name in recognition of his international eminence.

Currently, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is serving as Chairman of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Science and Technology, Vice Chairman on Prime Minister’s Task Force on Technology-Driven Knowledge-Economy, and Co-Chairman, Task Force on Information Technology.

He has also served as a federal minister for science and technology and chairman higher education commission.

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan having won four civil awards including Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz and the highest national award Nishan-i-Imtiaz.

He obtained his Ph. D in organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968).

He has 1250 publications in several fields of organic chemistry including 775 research publications, 45 international patents, 69 chapters in books and 341 books published largely by major U. S. and European presses.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of eight European Chemistry journals.

He is the editor of the world's leading encyclopedic series of volumes on natural products "Studies in Natural Product Chemistry" 62 volumes of which have been published under his Editorship during the last two decades.

As many as 82 students have completed their Ph.D degrees under his supervision.

He has also been awarded various national and international awards in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of science and technology.