Prof Attaur Rahman honoured with Chinese highest scientific award

Move comes in recognition of eminent scientist collaborations with China in organic chemistry, other emerging fields

Renowned scientist Prof Dr Attaur Rahman has been awarded the 'China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award 2020 — the highest scientific award of China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping conferred the prestigious honour upon Dr Rehman during a ceremony organised at the Great Peoples Hall in Beijing on Friday, according to an official statement,

The well-known scientist has been awarded in recognition of his contributions in the field of chemistry and the numerous strong collaborations that he has developed with China in the fields of organic chemistry, genetics, pharmacology, agricultural sciences, virology, nanotechnology and other emerging areas.

Chinese research center to be named after Dr Attaur Rahman

Prof Rahman is the most decorated scientist of Pakistan having many accolades under his name including Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz and the highest national award Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

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

He has also served the nation as a Federal Minister of Science and Technology, and Founding Chairman of Higher Education Commission (HEC).

The acclaimed scientist obtained his PhD in organic chemistry from Cambridge University in 1968.

With 1,250 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,  Dr Rahman is also the editor-in-chief of eight European Chemistry journals.

He is also 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.

This prestigious 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).