Chinese research centre to be named after Dr Attaur Rahman

ISLAMABAD: A leading university of Chinese Traditional Medicine (CTC) in Changsha, Hunan province, has decided to name its new research centre after Pakistan’s known scientist and academician Prof Dr Attaur-Rahman.

According to an announcement, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine planned to hold a grand opening ceremony of its new centre named as Professor Attaur-Rahman One Belt One Road TCM Research Centre on the occasion of 5th Annual Bio-TCM International Conference scheduled on October 23, 2019.

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had also been invited as the guest of honour at this special occasion, said a senior official of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi (UoK) sharing details of the event.

He also mentioned that the largest University of Malaysia, University Teknology Mara, has already established a research centre in the name of Prof Attaur-Rahman entitled Attaur-Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery (AuRins).

Prof Atta is presently serving as Chairman of Prime Minister's Task Force on Science and Technology, Vice Chairman on Prime Ministers 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.

Prof Atta is the first scientist from the Muslim world to have won the prestigious Unesco Science Prize (1999) in the 35 year old history of the prize.

He was elected as Fellow of Royal Society (London) in July 2006.

He has been conferred honorary doctorate degrees by many universities, including the degree of Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) by the Cambridge University (UK) (1987). He was elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, UK in 2007.

The Austrian government has honoured him with its highest civil award (“Grosse Goldene Ehrenzeischen am Bande") (2007) in recognition of his eminent contributions. He is President of Network of Academies of Sciences of Islamic Countries (NASIC), Foreign Fellow of Korean Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society.

Prof Atta has been awarded highest award “Friendship Award of China” on September 28, 2014. He was the Federal Minister for Science and Technology (14th March, 2000 – 20th November, 2002), Federal Minister of Education (2002) and Chairman of the Higher Education Commission with the status of a Federal Minister from 2002-2008. He is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan having won four civil awards by the government of Pakistan, including Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (1983), Sitara-i-Imtiaz (1991), Hilal-i-Imtiaz (1998), and the highest national civil award Nishan-i-Imtiaz (2002).