Citation | Atta-ur-Rahman has discovered a large number of natural products, many of which have exhibited exciting biological activities. He has developed biomimetic synthetic approaches to the anti-cancer alkaloids of Catharanthus roseus. He has also developed new methods for determination of absolute configurations of several classes of organic compounds by circular dichroism studies. These contributions are embodied in 460 research papers in leading international journals and 59 chapters in books. He has also written/edited 80 books published by major international companies. Atta-ur-Rahman has played a pivotal role in the establishment of a world-class Centre of natural product chemistry, a challenging task in a developing country. As Federal Minister for Science & Technology for the last 4 years, he has brought about revolutionary changes in the science & technology and higher education sectors in Pakistan, acknowledged in an editorial in "Nature". As head of a Committee of 57 Ministers of Science (COMSTECH), he has contributed to the uplifting of science in a large number of countries in Africa, Middle East and Central & South Asia. |