Fellow

Dr. Muhammad Qudrat-I-Khuda (Deceased)

(Foundation Fellow, 1973)

Dr. Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda was born in Margram, Birbhum,  West Bengal in May, 1900. His father was respected religious leader Syed Shah Abdul Mukid who was also a graduate.

Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda received his early education in his village school and then in Alia Madrasa, Calcutta. He passed Matriculation examination from  Woodburn School,  Calcutta and secured M.Sc. degree in Chemistry in  1924 from Calcutta University.

He joined Imperial College of Science and Technology and obtained D.Sc. degree in Chemistry from London University and DIC of Imperial College in 1929. His field of specialization was Organic Chemistry. He was appointed a Visiting Professor of Chemistry of Dhaka University in 1975 and served there till his death.

Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda joined the Presidency College, Calcutta as a teacher and was soon promoted to the post of Principal of the same College. He was a Fellow and a Member of the Senate of Calcutta University. On partition of India he came to the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1947 and joined as the first Director of Public Instruction of the Government of East Pakistan (1947-1949). In 1949 he was appointed as the Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Pakistan. Former Chairman of the first Director of the East Regional Laboratories of PCSIR (now BCSIR) in 1955 and established the laboratories in Dhaka. He retired from the Directorship in 1966.

He was a Premchand Roychand Scholar (PRS) and was awarded a Gold Medal for his brilliant result. 

Dr. Khuda has numerous publications to his credit both in the form of books and research articles. He supervised a very large number of research projects at the East Regional Laboratories. He wrote a good number of books on Chemistry in Bengali.

Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda joined as the Chairman of Bangla Development Board and served the cause of Bangla language as an arduous supporter of Bengali. After the independence of Bangladesh he was made the Chairman of Bangladesh Education Commission in 1972 and submitted the recommendations to the Government of Bangladesh in 1975.

In 1973 he was elected as the Founder President of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. He was also a Founder Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

He visited many countries of the world and participated in conferences, seminars and symposia on various topics.

Dr. Qudrat-i-Khuda died on 03 November 1977.