Mad science: Prof Attaur Rehman and the exciting world of discovery

Scientist talks about science and why it is important

KARACHI: Science, according to Prof Dr Attaur Rahman, is fun, especially for university students. “A university should not just be a place known for its beautiful building and structure,” he said. “It should be known because of the beautiful minds of its students. The main building at Cambridge University is almost 800 years old and has gifted 72 Nobel laureates to the world.”

Prof Rahman, a scientist and former head of the Higher Education Commission, spent a productive morning talking to students of the DHA Suffa University on Friday morning. He had his audience hanging on every word as he told students about the latest discoveries in the field of science and what sort of inventions one can expect to see in the future. He said that it was important to study science as this will help nations in building a knowledge-based economy.

“Every day brings about some exciting changes,” he said. “We all live in a world of discovery where knowledge is the key to progress.” He urged students to join the research field.

The professor’s presentation, titled ‘The Exciting World of Discovery’, was all about scientific research in different countries. “Singapore has 1/4th of the population when we compare it to the population ratio of Karachi and their GDP ratio is 12 to 15 times higher than Pakistan,” he said, adding that Singapore has turned into a modern state because they have invested only on human resources.

Discussing Malaysia, he said that the transformation of the country and its economy was an eye-opener for Pakistan. He added that during his terms in the government, the education and research budgets had increased drastically.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2015.