By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Renowned scientist of Pakistan, Professor Dr Atta-ur-Rahman, will receive China’s highest scientific award by the Chinese president on January 10 at The Great Peoples Hall in Beijing. According to the official source, “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. Dr Atta-urRahman termed Chinese Scientific Award as great honour for him and Pakistan as well. This top international award has previously been given to several world’s leading scientists, including the Nobel Laureates Dr Carlo Rubbia (Nobel Prize in physics, 1984) and Dr Zhores I. Alferov (Nobel Prize in physics, 2000). It is pertinent to mention here that China and Malaysia have also established major research centres in his name to recognise his international eminence. Currently, Prof Rahman is serving as the chairperson of the prime minister’s task force on science and technology, vice chairman on the PM’s task force on technology-driven knowledge-economy and co-chairperson of the task force on information technology. He has also served as a federal minister for science and technology and the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) chairperson. Professor Dr Atta is Pakistan’s most decorated scientist, having won four civil awards, including Tamghai-Imtiaz, Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Hilal-i-Imtiaz, and Nishan-iImtiaz, the highest national award. Prof Rahman obtained his PhD in 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 US and European presses. He is also the editor-in-chief of eight European chemistry journals, the official source informed. Prof Rahman 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 PhD 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.
