BEIJING: The President of China Xi Jinping has conferred the highest scientific award of China to the famous Pakistani scientist Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman in the Great Peoples Hall in Beijing.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is the only Muslim scientist who has been honored with this prestigious award, “China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.”
The spokesman of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi (UoK) said on Friday that the ‘China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award’, for the year 2020 was conferred on Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman in recognition of his monumental contributions in the field of chemistry.
The President of China offered Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman the award in a special ceremony held in the Great Peoples Hall in Beijing on Friday.
This top international award has previously been given to several leading scientists of the world including the 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. However, he has also served the nation as federal minister for science and technology, and chairman higher education commission.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan having won 4 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. inorganic 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 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. The Vice Chancellor University of Karachi Prof. Dr. Khalid Mahmood Iraqai and Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Director of ICCBS – University of Karachi congratulated Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, and said that this award was an honour not only for the University but also for the nation.
