The Pakistan Academy of Sciences ( ur, ) (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

as: PAS), is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership m ...

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

s, which described itself as "a repository of the highest scientific talent available in the country." Established in 1953 in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

, the Academy acts as a consultative forum and scientific advisor to the Pakistan government on important aspects on the affairs of all forms of

– the

social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and physical sciences. Regulating affairs of by its Charter and laws approved by the fellows, the Academy is governed by a council that is chaired by its

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

. Due to its utmost importance, the

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the academy is extremely restricted, only to the scholars of the high merit who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge. As of current, Qasim Jan is the President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS) who took after succeeding Anwar Nasim in 2017.

History

The idea of establishing the Academy was mooted in November 1947 when the first national education conference was organized by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Sindh, which was inaugurated Muhammad Ali Jinnah– the founder and the Governor-General of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. No immediate actions were taken at that time, though the discussion to establish the academy continues between the senior scientists and the Pakistan government. After an extensive discussion took in 1948-53, the academy was established and materialized in a concession reached by the senior scientists and government, with the assistance from the foreign scientists and the foreign learned societies. Many scholars and scientists emigrated from India to Pakistan in the 1950s that would give foundation to the academy, including

Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, ( ur, ; 19 October 1897 – 14 April 1994) was a Pakistani Muhajir organic chemist specialising in natural products, and a professor of chemistry at the University of Karachi. Siddiqui studied philosophy at Aligarh Mus ...

, Nazir Ahmed, and Raziuddin Siddiqui. Eventually, a draft was written by Raziuddin Siddiqui and approved by the council in 1950. After considerable planning and deliberations, the inauguration of the Academy was fixed, and it was established on 16 February 1953 by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Khawaja Nazimuddin Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin ( bn, খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; ur, ; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali to ha ...

who was the chief guest at the inauguration. The ceremony took place at the

University of the Punjab The University of the Punjab (Urdu, pnb, ), also referred to as Punjab University, is a public, research, coeducational higher education institution located in Lahore, Pakistan. Punjab University is the oldest public university in Pakistan. ...

and was witnessed by a gathering of over 1,000 scientists, including from the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

(

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

), National Academy of Sciences (India), Academy of Science and Letters (

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

), National Academy of Sciences (

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unit ...

(

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

), and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. Dr. Nazir Ahmed delivered an honorary message to Prime Minister Nazimuddin for helping the cause of the Academy. At first, the Academy was sited in

and considerations were made to establish the headquarters of the Academy in

—a temporary

federal capital A federal capital is a political entity, often a municipality or capital (political), capital city, that serves as the Seat of government, seat of the federal government. A federal capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the offices ...

at that time. An additional office was established in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

to support scientific activities in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

. In 1965, the headquarters of the academy was permanently shifted to

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

the federal capital and was located near the

Quaid-e-Azam University Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad ( ur, ; commonly referred to as QAU), founded as University of Islamabad, is a ranked 1 public research university in Islamabad, Pakistan. Founded as the University of Islamabad in 1967, it was initially dedi ...

until 1976. In 1976, the headquarters was shifted to a rented building in Islamabad, with financial assistance from the Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF). The rented building contained the library of the Academy, a committee room, office rooms for the Secretary, the editor and officestaff, and a couple of guest rooms for visiting fellows. Special initiatives taken by senior scientists in 1978,

Zia-ul-Haq General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...

granted a federal land for the purpose of Academy's headquarters near the

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the northwest and northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and its western section was greatly lengthened and widened bet ...

by allocating ₨. 700 million which commissioned CDA Engineering for designing and constructing the headquarters. In 1979, the headquarters of the academy was inaugurated.

Fellowships

The Fellowship of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences is dominated by the

physical sciences Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together called the "physical sciences". Definition Phy ...

, and has 132 fellows . Due to its importance, the Fellowships of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences are tightly restricted to the scientists who met the criteria of their qualifications. Only scientists of the highest merit, who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge, are elected as Fellows of the Academy. Not more than five fellows can be elected during any one year; the maximum permissible number of fellows is one hundred. Majority of the fellows of the Academy are Pakistani scientists eminent for their original contribution to science, who are elected by the General Body according to the procedure laid down in the bylaws. The foreign fellowship has been bestowed upon the foreign scientists of eminence who have made contributions towards scientific development in Pakistan in one way or the other.

Research

The Academy has a rich tradition of organizing conferences promoting the work of researchers from multiple fields of science. The Academy's Lahore chapter recently held a National Research Conference in Lahore on 29 and 30 June 2007.

Publications

The Academy regularly publishes a quarterly journa
The Proceedings of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences
since 1963 that is distributed to international scientific organizations and universities by subscription and on exchange basis.

Past Presidents

References

Inline citations Bibliography * *

External links

of the Academy *The Academy is a signatory o
IAP Statement on the teaching of evolution
{{authority control Educational organisations based in Pakistan Learned societies of Pakistan Science and technology in Pakistan Scientific organisations based in Pakistan National academies of sciences 1953 establishments in Pakistan Scientific organizations established in 1953 Pakistan Academy of Sciences