January 9, 2006	Monday	Zilhaj 8, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 8: Speakers at a ceremony on Sunday held that merit, excellence and perseverance provided bases for the promotion of a scientific culture bringing a difference to many lives in any society. The ceremony was organized by the Hamdard Foundation Pakistan (HFP) in honour of a distinguished bio-organic chemist, Prof Dr Wolfgang Voelter, from Germany.

The government of Pakistan awarded him Hilal-i-Pakistan in 2005 for his outstanding scientific contributions and participation in organization works with regard to establishment of the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry at the University of Karachi.

During the ceremony held on the campus, a felicitation volume published by the HFP in honour of Dr Voelter and edited by Sadia Rashid, President HFP, was also launched.

In his special lecture on “Globalization of Science for Peace and Development”, Dr Voelter recalled his long association with the HEJ Institute and traced the history of the institute’s establishment and its various development phases.

He said it was in the early 70s that the German government appeared interested in establishing a chemistry research centre in India, but in the absence of a feedback, Pakistan was considered for the purpose.

Though it took considerable time to convince the German government to invest in Pakistan, it were Dr Salimuzzaman Siddiqui and his group of scientists at Karachi who produced a miracle; and the German government finally agreed to invest 5 million DM in training programmes, mass and NMR spectrometers, books, chemicals and laboratory equipment.

He apprised the gathering of some of his selected examples of joint published work on the isolation and structure elucidation of ingredients from Pakistani medicinal plants, etc.

Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Richard Ernst said globalization meant sharing of experiences and responsibilities and collaboration with each other, and one after going through the life and achievements of Dr Voelter would surely recognize him as a role model, who developed an inspiring example of cooperation between Karachi and Tubengin (Germany).

Dr Pirzada Qasim said Dr Voelter’s presentation was just not a lecture but a tour to what he had been doing for science institutions in the third world countries. “He is doing immense work for science and peace by involving scientists from across the globe,” he added.

Sadia Rashid said that in line with her father’s belief that honour should be given where it was due, the Hamdard Foundation had been publishing felicitation volumes from time to time.

The acting director of the HEJ Institute, Dr Iqbal Choudhary, read out a message from Dr Attaur Rahman, Chairman of HEC, who as per programme was to be the chief guest but could not make it due to his preoccupation in Islamabad. Dr Atta said Dr Voelter had helped institutions and individuals alike and trained and supported a very large number of young Pakistan in their careers as a true mentor.