Overview
The national site has its genesis and long efforts led by the University of Karachi dedicated for educating and researching on natural product chemistry when the University of Karachi's Department of Chemistry established the "Postgraduate Institute of Chemistry" in 1967.: 25 [1] Upon retiring from his public services as chairman of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Dr. Salimuzzaman Siddiqui was employed as its chief scientist who was instrumental of establishing the national site who secured initial funding for his Institute of Chemistry when he witnessed his physicist colleagues establishing the national laboratory in physics in Nilore.: 25 [1]
The national laboratory site was finally established in its current form with the generous private funding ($500,000 in 1976, $2.25 million as of 2020 [4] ) from the HEJ Foundation in 1976, and bares the name of Hussain Ebrahim Jamal.: 25 [1] At the time, this represented the largest private donation in nation's history to establish the national laboratory site in the country.: 25 [1] Later, the national laboratory site was certified for federal funding and began supporting his research efforts as parallel to KRL and PINSTECH from the sponsorship of the Ministry of Defense and later the Higher Education Commission. [2]
Atta-ur-Rahman succeeded in obtaining grants to acquire a new mass spectrometers and NMR spectrometers, both of which were installed in 1973, within a year of his return to Pakistan. He was appointed as the Co-Director in 1977. He succeeded in winning several major projects for the institute which established the institute in the field of Natural Product Chemistry. A generous donation was offered to the University for the Institute by Latif Ebrahim Jamal on behalf of the Husein Ebrahim Jamal Foundation in 1976, the largest donation at that time in the history of the country. The Institute was accordingly named as "Husein Ebrahim Jamal Research Institute of Chemistry", in the memory of late Husein Ebrahim Jamal.
Atta-ur-Rahman was appointed as the Director in January 1990, [5] while Viqar Uddin Ahmad took over as Co-Director in 1990. [6] In 1999, Professor Bina S. Siddiqui was appointed as the Co-Director [7] on the retirement of Professor Ahmad, while in 2002 M. Iqbal Choudhary was given the responsibilities of the Director (Acting) of ICCBS and Co-Director of Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research. In September 2008, he was appointed as the Director of the ICCBS institutions. [8]
The institute has organized a number of major international conferences and symposia on various aspects of Natural Product Chemistry, Spectroscopy, and Protein Chemistry. The institute hosted the 19th IUPAC Symposium on Natural Product Chemistry in January 1994 in which over 500 scientists from 52 countries, including 4 Nobel Laureates participated. [9]
Additionally, the Institute has also been selected as one of the three library centers of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). The H.E.J. Institute has been designated as the W.H.O. Center for Pesticide Analysis for the Eastern Mediterranean Region. The institute is also a member of the IUCN-International, WAITRO, and COMSATS. More recently the institute is designated as the OIC Center of Excellence in Chemical Sciences. In 2001, the H.E.J. Research Institute became a constituent institution of the International Center for Chemical Sciences (later named as International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences). [10]
In 2004, the H.E.J. Research Institute received the prestigious IDB (Islamic Development Bank) prize for the best science institution in the entire Islamic world. [11] Recently, the IDB awarded the best science institution again to the H.E.J. Research Institute (second time), an unprecedented honor to any science institution in the OIC region. [12]
In August 2003, an Industrial Analytical Center was established as the service wing of H. E. J. Institute. [13] Third World Center (TWC) Laboratory complex was formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2005 as an extension of the H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry. The building of TWC was renamed to "Atta-ur-Rahman Laboratories" by the Executive Board in 2011, in recognition of the outstanding services of Atta-ur-Rahman (FRS) who is now serving the ICCBS institution as the Patron-in-chief. [14]
In the year 2004, the Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) was established through a generous donation and patronage of Nadira Panjwani (Chairperson, Panjwani Memorial Trust) in the memory of her father, Mohammad Hussain Panjwani, a leading scholar and philanthropist. The main objective of the center is to train highly qualified manpower in the emerging new fields of molecular medicine and drug development. The academicians, clinicians, and pharmaceutical researchers are brought together to translate basic scientific discoveries into new therapies, vaccines, and diagnostic tests. [15]
Late Mr. Latif Ebrahim Jamal, Chairman Ebrahim Jamal Foundation, continuing his patronage to the Institute, established the Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center in 2005. The beautiful building of this one of the largest paperless libraries of the region was constructed under the direct supervision of Mr. Aziz Latif Jamal S.I. (Current Chairman Husein Ebrahim Jamal Foundation), able and committed son of (Late) Mr. Latif Ebrahim Jamal. [16]
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington.
Yuan Tseh Lee is a Taiwanese chemist and a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first Taiwanese Nobel Prize laureate who, along with the Hungarian-Canadian John C. Polanyi and American Dudley R. Herschbach, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 "for their contributions to the dynamics of chemical elementary processes".
The National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) is a multi-campus public research university with its main campus in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The University of Karachi is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh, the university is a "Sindh Government University" and designed by Mohsin Baig as its chief architect.
The COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI), formerly known as COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), is a public university in Pakistan. It is a multi-campus university with its principal seat located in Islamabad. Comsats was envisioned as Pakistan's first exclusive Institute of Information Technology. In the latest QS University Rankings, CUI ranked 7th in Pakistan and 801-1000 in the world. Nationally it is ranked top-most in Computer Sciences and IT category. COMSATS University Islamabad (CUI) is under the administration of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South.
The Higher Education Commission is a statutory body formed by the Government of Pakistan which was established in 2002 under the Chairmanship of Atta-ur-Rahman. Its main functions are funding, overseeing, regulating and accrediting the higher education institutions in the country.
Hakeem Muhammad Saeed was a Pakistani medical researcher, scholar, and philanthropist. He served as governor of Sindh Province from 19 July 1993 until 23 January 1994. Saeed was one of Pakistan's most prominent medical researchers in the field of Eastern medicine.
Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, was a Pakistani Muhajir organic chemist specialising in natural products, and a professor of chemistry at the University of Karachi.
Atta-ur-Rahman, is a Pakistani organic chemist and is currently serving as Professor Emeritus at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi and as Chairman of PM Task Force on Science and Technology. He has twice served as the President of Pakistan Academy of Sciences. He was the Federal Minister of Science and Technology (2000-2002), Federal Minister of Education (2002) and Chairman Higher Education Commission with status of Federal Minister (2002-2008) He is also the President of the Network of Academies of Sciences in Countries of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (NASIC). After returning to Pakistan from Cambridge after completing his tenure as Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, he contributed to the development of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences at the University of Karachi, and transforming the landscape of higher education, science and technology of Pakistan. He is Fellow of Royal Society (London) and Life Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University, UK.
Jean-Luc Brédas is an American chemist, working at the University of Arizona. He was born in Fraire, Belgium, on 23 May 1954.
Dashkin is a village in Astore, Pakistan. It is 85 km from Gilgit, the capital of Gilgit-Baltistan. It has over 5,000 inhabitants, primarily farmers and herdsmen.
Science and technology is a growing field in Pakistan and has played an important role in the country's development since its founding. Pakistan has a large pool of scientists, engineers, doctors, and technicians assuming an active role in science and technology. The real growth in science in Pakistan occurred after the establishment of the Higher education Commission in 2002 which supported science in a big way and also became the major sponsor of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences under the leadership of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman. The emphasis was placed on quality rather than numbers during this period. The quality measures introduced by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman as Founding Chairman HEC included:1) All Ph.D. thesis were evaluated by eminent foreign scientists,2) All PhD theses and research papers were checked for plagiarism 3) Some 11,000 students were sent abroad to leading universities for PhD level training and absorbed on their return, 4) Appointments at faculty positions were linked to international stature of the applicants as judged from their international publications, patents and citations, and (5) Quality Enhancement Cells were established in all universities for the first time in the history of the country. (6) The minimum criteria for establishment of a new university were approved by the Cabinet and universities that did not meet this criteria were closed down. (7) The Model University Ordinance was approved setting the governance parameters for new universities. (8) A list of fake higher education institutions was prepared and made public. (9) Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) was set up within the Higher Education Commission that established Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs) as its operational units in public and private-sector universities across the country. (10) The funding of universities was linked to excellence in teaching and research under a formula based funding mechanism that considered enrolment, subjects and quality of teaching and research. The first IT policy and implementation strategy was approved under the leadership of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, then Federal Minister of Science & technology, in August 2000 which laid the foundations of the development of this sector On the request of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, Intel initiated a nationwide programme to train school teachers in Information and Communication technologies in March 2002 which has led to the training of 220,000 school teachers in 70 districts and cities across Pakistan. A 15-year tax holiday was approved on the recommendation of Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman which has resulted in growth of IT business from $30 million in 2001 to over $3 billion. The Pakistan Austria University of Applied Engineering (Fachhochschule) has been established in Haripur Hazara under a Steering Committee Chaired by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman in which students will get degrees from several Austrian universities. Pakistan's growth in scientific output can be seen from the fact that in 1990 Pakistan published 926 scholarly documents while in 2018 the number rose to 20548, a twenty times increase.In contrast India published 21443 scholarly documents in 1990 and the number rose to 171356 in 2018, an eight times increase. In 2018, 336 people per million were researchers in the R&D in Pakistan compared to 256 people per million being researchers in India. The reforms begun by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS in 2003-2008 have continued over the subsequent decade and according to the Web of Science report, there was a 300% growth in research publications in 2019 over the decade, with 2019 marking the first year in which Pakistan was ranked above the world average in research. In 2019, Pakistan produced 300% more publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection than in 2010. In the decade of 2010-2019, more than half of Pakistan’s research was published in journals with Impact Factor. The global influence of Pakistan’s research is increasing as scientists in the country are publishing more in top quartile journals. The Category Normalized Citation Impact of Pakistan’s publications has risen from 0.67 to 1.03. output. As of 2020, Pakistan has 85% teledensity with 183 million celllular, 98 million 3G/4G and 101 million broadband subscribers, due to the foundations laid by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman of the IT and telecom industry during 2000-2008. In an analysis of scientific research productivity of Pakistan, in comparison to Brazil, Russia, India and China, Thomson Reuters has applauded the developments that have taken place as a result of the reforms introduced by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS, since Pakistan has emerged as the country with the highest increase in the percentage of highly cited papers in comparison to the "BRIC" countries
Information technology in Pakistan is a growing industry that has the potential to expand more in the future. Matters relating to the IT industry are overseen by the Ministry of Information Technology of the Government of Pakistan. The IT industry is regarded as a successful sector of Pakistan economically, even during financial crisis. The first IT policy and implementation strategy was approved under the leadership of Atta-ur-Rahman, the Federal Minister of Science and Technology in August 2000 which laid the foundations of the development of this sector. The emphasis was placed on quality IT education in universities rather than numbers during this period. The quality measures introduced by Atta-ur-Rahman as Chairman of Higher Education Commission during 2002-2008 included:1) All PhD thesis were evaluated by eminent foreign scientists,2) All PhD thesis and research papers were checked for plagiarism 3) Some 11,000 students were sent abroad to leading universities for PhD level training and absorbed on their return, 4) Appointments at faculty positions were linked to international stature of the applicants as judged from their international publications, patents and citations, and (5) Quality Enhancement Cells were established in all universities for the first time in the history of the country. Thereafter two policies were launched by the Ministry of IT under the leadership of Anusha Rahman Khan, Federal Minister for IT and Telecom (2013-2018). The Telecom Policy was announced in December 2015, and later National Digital Pakistan Policy that was approved by the cabinet in May 2018. In 2001, a 15 year tax holiday was approved to promote the IT industry which has the grown from $30 million to over $3 billion during the last 16 years. A nationwide programme to train teachers was initiated by Intel in March 2002 in Pakistan on the request of Atta-ur-Rahman which has resulted in the training of 220,000 teachers across 70 districts at no cost to the government. The government of Pakistan has given incentives to IT investors in the country during the last decade, this resulted in the development of the IT sector. From 2003 to 2005, the country's IT exports saw a rise of about fifty percent and amounted a total of about 48.5 million USD. The World Economic Forum, assessing the development of Information and Communication Technology in the country ranked Pakistan 111th among 144 countries in the Global Information Technology report of 2014. In an analysis of scientific research productivity of Pakistan, in comparison to Brazil, Russia, India and China, Thomson Reuters has applauded the developments that have taken place as a result of the reforms introduced by Atta-ur-Rahman, since Pakistan has emerged as the country with the highest increase in the percentage of highly cited papers in comparison to the "BRIC" countries. Atta-ur-Rahman is Co-Chairman of the Prime Ministers Task Force on Information Technology and Telecommunications. As a result of the measures introduced on the recommendation of the Task Force, there has been a sharp increase in software exports of Pakistan.
Natural Product Research is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research on natural products chemistry. It was established in 1992 by Atta-ur-Rahman.
The Chemical Society of Pakistan, also known as Pakistan Chemistry Society, is an academic and scientific society of professional chemists, devoted and dedicated for scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. It is one of the largest learned societies of Pakistan and groups to all degree-levels and in all fields of chemistry, chemical engineering, and related fields such as biochemistry, Chemical physics, Mathematical chemistry, Electrochemistry and other branches of chemistry.
Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary is a scientist in the field of organic chemistry from Pakistan. He is known for his research in various areas relating to natural product chemistry. He has more than 800 research publications. In 2015 he was recognised as the second most productive scientist in Pakistan.
Irshad Hussain is a Pakistani Scientist in the field of chemistry and among the few pioneers to initiate nanomaterials research in Pakistan.
Syed Zafar Hasnain Zaidi Urdu: سید ظفر حسنین زیدی was a Pakistani scientific researcher, and professor who introduced the concept of Protein Chemistry in Pakistan. He served as Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi, Pakistan. He was decorated twice by the Government of Pakistan for his contributions to Scientific Research in Pakistan, being awarded Tamgha-e-Imtiaz in 1989 and Sitar-e-Imtiaz in 1995. He was also awarded the Khwarizmi International Award in 1992 by the Government of Iran for his research in Science.
