Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has made major contributions to the development of science & technology in Pakistan and in other regional countries as given below:
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has contributed to the development of a world class centre in natural product chemistry The H. E. J. Research Insitute of Chemistry in Pakistan. He won grants of 1 million pounds from Overseas Development Authority (UK), 9 million dollars from JICA (Japan), 3.5 million DM from GTZ (Germany), 7 million US dollars from Office of Naval Research (USA) and 15 million US dollars from Pakistan with which the Centre has been transformed to one of the best facilities for research on natural product chemistry anywhere. The facilities include 12 superconducting NMR spectrometers (800 MHz- 600 MHz- 300 MHz), seven mass spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers, FT-IR, elemental microanalysers, gas phase amino acid sequencer, gas chromatographs, HPLC systems, b-counter, g-counters, polygraphs and a considerable amount of pharmacology and pilot plant equipment
In March 2000 Atta-ur-Rahman was appointed as the Federal Minister for Science and Technology in the Government of Pakistan while continuing to be the Director of HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi. He managed to convince the government to make science and technology a priority area of national focus and the budget for science and technology in Pakistan was increased by 6000% from 2001 to 2003. In October 2002 he was appointed as the Chairman, Higher Education Commission. The budget for higher education was similarly increased by 1200% from 2002 to 2004. He has launched over three hundred and fifty national projects including:
Till 1979, Pakistan had no national chemistry journal. In his capacity as the founding Honorary Editor, Professor Atta-ur-Rahman began publishing Pakistan’s first international chemistry journal, “Journal of the Chemical Society of Pakistan” which has provided a medium in which national and regional research efforts in various disciplines of chemistry can be reflected. As President of the Chemical Society and later its Patron he has taken many steps to promote chemistry in Pakistan including the organization of Pakistan’s first IUPAC Conference on Natural Products in 1994.
The contributions of Atta-ur-Rahman have been recognized by numerous national & international honorary degrees, awards & prizes including the degree of Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) by the University of Cambridge in 1987 and the UNESCO Science Prize (1999).
In his capacity as the head (Coordinator General) of COMSTECH which is a Committee of 57 Ministers of Science and Technology of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Conference) member countries Atta-ur-Rahman has initiated a large number of projects in the region which include:
Atta-ur-Rahman's efforts to establish a research institute of international caliber in a developing country and his research contributions have been praised by 5 Nobel Laureates (J.-M. Lehn, R.R. Ernst, Sir D.H.R. Barton, H.C. Brown and R. Noyori) in their nominations for various prizes.
Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman’s contributions to promote Science & Technology have attracted praise in an editorial in “Nature” [(427, 379 (29 January 2004)].
Quote: “Rahman has convinced Musharraf and a deluge of money and new initiatives has poured out. Consider the following: the ministry of science and technology’s annual budgets increased 60-fold compared with 1999; researchers have an opportunity to more than double their earnings if they publish more in peer-reviewed journals; funds have been released for many more Ph.Ds. to be trained at home and abroad; plans are well under way for a free digital library for all educational institutions; there is a new scheme to attract researchers from overseas to work in Pakistan; and the cabinet recently approved a plan to use science and technology to catalyse a doubling in the country’s rate of growth of gross domestic product before 2020”. Unquote.Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center (LEJNSIC) has been serving as a hub of information dissemination and focal center of the Virtual Education Project Pakistan (VEPP) since 2008, led and supervised by Professor Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS and Prof. M. Iqbal Choudhary. Thousands of full courses (about 0.5 million lecture hours), skill development modules, research based lectures, and on-line mentoring sessions at school, college and university levels have been arranged from the following sources:
These learning materials are available through a web based portal, for all levels and in various languages. A variety of technical and vocational courses will be made available, preferably dubbed in Urdu, for the underprivileged population with the aim of providing them with excellent means of learning. The increasing population of the world is going to pose huge challenges for the next generation in terms of access to water, food and education. Tens of thousands of new colleges and universities will be needed to cope with the needs of the growing number of young seeking opportunities for education in various fields. Technology has however opened up new opportunities in the last decade. This wonderful website of knowledge (lej4learning.com.pk) was inaugurated by His Excellency, Mamnoon Hussain , The President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan on December 12, 2013. The program is led by our most celebrated scientist and global leader in education, Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman FRS as a monumental service to the nation and the world at large.
Online learning is growing in popularity and effectiveness. Current estimates indicate that as many as four million students in North America are taking online courses because online courses are convenient, offer flexibility, bring education right to your home, offer more individual attention, promote life-long learning and of course provides financial benefits too. The challenge is to have knowledge of what is available where, and then to have rapid access to them without being lost in the wilderness of information that we encounter when carrying out a search in Google for the desired materials. The answer has been provided by integrating all such resources on one platform and providing them to students across the country. Pakistan is now among the first in the world to initiate a massive learning platform which includes integrated courses from various major world sources for ready accessibility, structured mentoring and assessment system and at the end credit recognition, issuance of certificate, and degrees wherever possible.
Under the global leadership in education of Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman virtual education project Pakistan has launched two on-line courses through video conferencing under “Basic Chinese Language Program” which is being implemented in collaboration with the Confucius Institute of Chinese Language, University of Karachi and the Confucius Institute of Chinese Language, Islamabad.
These courses have been designed to help undergraduate, graduate and post graduate students in Life Sciences, Engineering Sciences and Social Sciences to develop their language skills which will be beneficial in their future lives particularly in view of the key role that China is now playing in the world economy and in science and engineering. Two parallel training programs of identical levels 1A and 1B, initiated from February 17, 2014 and February 18, 2014, Chinese Language Course II (IIA and IIB) from November 17, 2014 and Chinese Language Course III started from November 17, 2015 for a term of four months, Chinese Language Course IV commenced from September 20, 2016 for four months and Chinese Language Course V commenced from March 07, 2017 for four months, Chinese Language Course VI commenced from September 19 for four months. Chinese Language Course VII commenced from April 3 for four months. These courses will cover Chinese Basic Language, Chinese listening and speaking and Chinese culture. The courses are transmitted on-line through Video Conferencing facility at L.E.J. National Science Information Center, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi.
Another language course in Arabic language has been initiated from July 2016 for the period of four months under the guidance of Prof. Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS.
This course has been designed to help undergraduate, graduate and post graduate university students specializing in biological and chemical and social sciences to develop and provide a better knowledge of the Arabic language foster cultural cooperation. The aim is to communicate an inclusive depiction of language by providing information on Arab's cultural, social and political life, and contribute to the academic and professional requirements of their disciplines and excel in their careers. The language program will start from July 25, 2016 for a period of four months.
This course will be coordinated through the Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center (University of Karachi), in collaboration with the Arabic language expert at Sheikh Zayed Islamic Center (SZIC), University of Karachi. The course will be transmitted on-line through Video Conferencing facility and via webinar technology at L.E.J. National Science Information Center, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi.
Course initiated by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman in French in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise has been designed to help undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate university students specializing in biological and chemical and social sciences to develop and provide a better knowledge of the French language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. The aim was to convey a comprehensive picture of France by providing information on their cultural, social and political life, and contribute to the academic and professional requirements of their disciplines and excel in their careers. The language program started from April 12, 2016 for a period of five months. This course was coordinated through the Latif Ebrahim Jamal National Science Information Center, ICCBS, University of Karachi, in collaboration with the French language experts at Alliance Francaise, Karachi, Pakistan. The course was transmitted on-line through Video Conferencing facility and via webinar technology at the L.E.J, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi.
The German language course entitled, “Fit for Germany” has been successfully initiated by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi (UoK). in collaboration with the Goethe-Institute, Karachi, Pakistan. This course was designed for undergraduate, graduate and post graduate university students specializing in biological and chemical and social sciences to develop and provide a better knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. The aim is to convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany's cultural, social and political life, and contribute to the academic and professional requirements of their disciplines and excel in their careers. The language program will start from February 29, 2016 for a period of four months.
The exciting developments in science and technology are transforming the world that we live in. The only constant is change---nations that can ride this change rather than get buried under it are surging forward, leaving others behind. This change is being driven by new scientific discoveries. These are then transformed into technologies, and then through innovation and entrepreneurship they become products of daily use. This is apparent in almost every sphere of our lives. Engineering goods, household appliances, communication tools, electronics, pharmaceuticals and many other fields are evolving with increasing rapidity.
This volume by Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman represents a compilation of a series of about 600 articles that have been written in Pakistan’s daily newspaper, Dawn, under the title “The Wondrous World of Science” every Sunday during the last four years. These articles have been widely read and generally greatly appreciated. Due to repeated requests from a number of readers all articles are compiled into a book in a comprehensive manner and is therefore available for general public.
Its interesting articles have gained so popular that Bureau of Planning & Strategy Chinese Academy of Sciences has translated it into Chinese Language has been published in January 2016. Soon it will be marketed for general public. With the increasing demand its now been translated into Urdu and published under the title “Science Ka Jahan-e-Hairat” (2015).
An updated volume of the Wondrous World of Science has recently been published in July 2016.
Despite of Research publications, Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman writes for different newspapers, journals and magazines of national and international importance which mostly covers the recent advancement in science and technology around the world and what measures may be taken to upgrade the higher education level of Pakistan and negligence of government of Pakistan in this respect.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, FRS is writing a column in Pakistan’s top daily newspaper in English, Dawn under the heading entitled “Wondrous World of Science” since 2009 to date and more than 800 articles have been published. All these articles have also been compiled into a book, “Wondrus world of Science”, its first volume has been published while second volume is under ccompilation. This interesting book on recent advancements in science and technology sector has also been translated into Chinese and Urdu languages.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is writing in one of the Pakistan’s leading English Daily Newspaper since 2011 and almost 183 articles have been published on Science, technology and Socio Economic development.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman is also writing articles in Pakistan’s another leading daily Urdu newspaper since 2011 and almost 177 articles have been published.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has written 15 articles since 2012 in an international newspaper.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has written 22 articles since 2013 in an international magazine published monthly.
Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman has written 43 articles since 2015 in national newspaper published fortnightly.
An article entitled “Knowledge Economy in Pakistan” published in Pakistan Army “Green Book 2021” ISSN 2303-9973. A research journal of Pakistan Army.