The World Academy of Science (Italy) Awards Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman Prize

KARACHI  (HRNW) The World Academy of Science (TWAS) has announced this year’s “TWAS─Atta-ur-Rahman Award in Chemistry” to Dr. Basant GIRI from Nepal in connection with his outstanding contributions The spokesman of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi on Thursday said that TWAS was established by the Nobel Laureate, late Prof. Abdus Salam in Trieste, Italy which is financed by the Italian government and by UNESCO. He said that the organization decided to introduce a special Prize each year in honour of the leading scientist of Pakistan, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman.

TWAS has been awarding prizes to young scientists from Asia and Africa in honor of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, for the last 10 years, he said. The prizes are awarded to young chemists in the developing world who have made remarkable contributions in the field of chemistry, the spokesman said, adding that TWAS has announced this year’s prize to Dr. Basant GIRI from Nepal in connection with his outstanding contributions. The prize covers a cash award of USD 5,000 and a Prize certificate, he said, saying that the Prize has been sponsored by Searle Pharmaceuticals, Pakistan.

Prof. Atta-ur Rahman is currently serving as Chairman of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Science and Technology, as Vice Chairman on Prime Minister’s Task Force on Technology Driven Knowledge Economy, and as Co-Chair of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Information Technology/Telecommunications. It is pertinent to mention here that Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968). He has 1232 publications in several fields of organic chemistry including 771 research publications, 45 international patents, 70 chapters in books and, 346 books published largely by major U.S. and European presses. He is the Editor-in-Chief of several European Chemistry journals. The professor has also been honoured with various international prestigious awards like the UNESCO Science Prize, FRS, Friendship Award of China, and many others. Institutions have been named in his honour by the University of Technology Mara (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and by Hunan University of Traditional Medicine (Hunan, Changsha, China). Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman 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).