Title:A TRIBUTE TO A LIVING LEGEND (Special Issue in Honor of the 70th Birthday of Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman.)
Volume: 8
Issue: 5
Author(s): William J. Hoekstra, Andreas Hilgeroth, Kuo-Chen Chou, Istvan Toth, Adam McCluskey, Ming-Rong Zhang and Paul Cos
Affiliation:
Abstract: The Editorial Board wishes to dedicate this issue of Medicinal Chemistry to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Prof. Dr.
Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS, on his 70th birthday. The Editorial Board acknowledges the tremendous achievements of Prof. Rahman
in the fields of Organic Chemistry in general and on bioactive natural products in particular.
Prof. Rahman’s honors include: 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; elected as
Fellow of Royal Society (London) in July 2006; conferred honorary doctorate degrees from
many prestigious universities, including the University of Cambridge.
On a national level his services are acknowledged in the form of four prestigious civil
awards, including these highest national awards: Nishan-e-Imtiaz (2002), Hilal-e-Imtiaz (1998),
Sitara-e-Imtiaz (1991) and Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (1983).
At an academic level, Prof. Rahman has 856 publications in several fields of organic
chemistry including 658 research publications, 21 patents, 114 books and 65 chapters in books
published largely by major U.S. and European presses. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of 12
scientific journals in fields ranging from Medicinal Chemistry to Pharmaceutical Drug Design.
Seventy six students have completed their Ph.D. degrees under his supervision. He chairs the Network of Academies of
Sciences of Islamic Countries (NASIC) and is the Vice-President (Central & South Asia) of the Academy of Sciences for the
Developing World (TWAS) Council, and Foreign Fellow of Korean Academy of Sciences. Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman was the
President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (2003-2006) and was again elected as the President of the Academy from 1st of
January 2011. In particular, Prof. Rahman has made outstanding contribution to Medicinal Chemistry.
The contributions of Prof. Rahman to the uplifting of science in Pakistan in his capacity as the Federal Minister for Science
& Technology and later as Chairman Higher Education Commission were acknowledged by a high Cilvil Awards of the
government of Austria and TWAS prize for institution building as well as by four editorials in Nature.
The Editorial board wishes health and prosperity to Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman in the years to come.
