Professor Atta ur Rahman Inducted as “Academician” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

May 30,2018

Prof. Atta ur Rahman was inducted as “Academician” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences   (CAS) on 28thMay 2018. This was on the occasion of the 19th General Assembly of CAS, and the 14th General Assembly of Chinese Academy of Engineering which was presided by the President of China Mr. Xi Jinping.  Sir Paul Nurse, a Nobel laureate and former President of Royal Society (London) was also inducted as an Academician at the same Ceremony. Prof. Atta is the first scientist from the Muslim world to receive this highest honour from China. Prof. Atta obtained his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968). He has 1122 publications in several fields of organic chemistry including 764 research publications, 43 international patents, 70 chapters in books and, 245 books published largely by major U.S. and European presses.

Prof. Rahman 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-ur-Rahman has been awarded highest award “Friendship Award of China” on September 28, 2014.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman 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. In recognition of his global outstanding services to the development of Science and Technology the largest university in Malaysia, University of Technology Mara, Malaysia UiTM, has established an institution entitled, “Atta-ur-Rahman Institute of Natural Product Discovery (RiND)” in 2013.  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).