Malaysian University to honour Attaur Rahman

University of Teknologi Mara also awarded Rahman with an honourary doctorate in 2011.

KARACHI: The University of Teknologi Mara, Malaysia, will honour Pakistani scientist and former federal minister of science and technology, Prof. Dr Attaur Rahman, by inaugurating the ‘Attaur Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery’ during a conference on natural products, being held at the university on Monday.

“The decision to establish the institute was made in March 2011 by the university’s vice-chancellor, Prof. Dr Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, during his visit to the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, Karachi University,” explained the centre’s spokesperson. “The Malaysian university also awarded Dr Atta with an honorary doctorate in 2011.”

He added that the institute will provide programmes at post-graduate levels in numerous fields, including organic chemistry, biochemistry and neuroscience, with a special focus on the bioactive constituents of terrestrial plants and marine sources.

Prof. Rahman, who is also a fellow of Royal Society, has 900 research publications, including 116 books published by major US and European presses, to his credit. He is the editor-in-chief of 12 European journals and 76 students have completed their doctorates under his supervision. Additionally, he is the only Muslim scientist to have been awarded with the Unesco Science Prize in 1999.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2013.