Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I.

Prof. Dr. Syed Wadal Shah S/o Syed Dittal Shah January 1939-December 1975

Peoples endowed with exceptional intellectual and creative abilities are a real gift of God for nations. Such people possess and are destined to elevate the history of nations. Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah was one of such persons, who though unluckily lived a short life but did a remarkable work and set an example of hard work, dedication, sincerity and commitment with his profession. Dr S W Shah was born in a small village Amin Lakho, Taluka Hala on 7th January 1939. He got his primary education in his village and continued his journey in the thirst of knowledge and wisdom. He passed his BSc and MSc with first class first in 1961 and 1963 respectively from University of Sindh in organic chemistry. During his studies one of his examiner noted on his answer sheet “examinee possesses more knowledge than examiner”. Keeping in view his academic record, he was appointed as a lecturer in Chemistry Department, Engineering College, University of Sindh. Realizing the importance of science and technology, he continued his struggle for higher education and secured a doctoral scholarship and received PhD degree from Imperial College London in 1967 in Organic Chemistry in a record period of ½ year. He dreamed to see the Department of Chemistry as a Centre of Excellence in Chemistry at Sindh University. Dr Shah continued his educational journey and professional excellence and secured a fellowship through international competition for post doctoral research. He received his post doctorate from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan in 1969 and Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. During his untiring journey he started to contribute for the nation through publication of his research in international journals, editing and translation of books, articles on science in local and international languages, compilation of scientific dictionaries in local language, edited first Sindhi Scientific Journal, organized international conferences and as an ambassador of scientific education in the country. At the age of just 32 years he was author of 6 research papers published in peer reviewed journals, author/translator of 5 books. (Separate sheet is attaché). After achieving the excellence in education Dr Shah was promoted to full Professor and he started to establish a research nucleus and registered 16 Students for Ph.D degree. With meager funds and lot of sincere efforts he was able to seek funding from different sources such as Pakistan Science Foundation and National Science Foundation of America in establishing Chemistry lab at Chemistry Department to undertake research at PhD level. This was the first time in the history of University of Sindh that 5 students completed their PhD within 3 years under supervision and dedicated effort of Dr Wadal Shah. The remaining 11 students/scholar have to sacrifice the degree due to sad & sudden demise of Dr. W.Shah at Norway. He was keenly involved in preaching and spread of scientific knowledge at all forums. Credit of organizing international conference in a small town Nawabshah through the platform of Sindh Science Society goes to Dr Shah. During this period he also published 6 books as author and coauthor through Sindh Science Society. It was his effort to edit and publish Monthly Science magazine in Sindhi to promote the Science Education in Sindh. His field of specialization was Organic Chemistry (Natural Product Chemistry) which plays a vital role for the benefit of mankind. All the medicines are outcome of research conducted in Organic chemistry. If God has given him sufficient time to live, it is very much sure that today Pakistan was known for centre of excellence in Chemistry. But God has decided something beyond expectations. In 1975, he was allowed by the Royal Norwegian Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to conduct further analysis on research made by his PhD students. This advance facility was not available at Sindh University. He completed this enormous work in just 4 months and planned to come back on 20 December 1975. But unfortunately he was found dead in his room on night of 16-17 December 1975 in age of just 36 years. The cause of death as conveyed by the concerned authorities was “Unknown”. This mysterious death provoked questions and doubts about his death. In his last letter to his students he wrote that “results of the analysis are quite interesting”. After his death, his students and followers established Dr Syed Wadal Shah Memorial Society and University of Sindh recognized his contribution by assigning his name to a road in the University. It was done to keep him alive for future generations and as a tribute to his efforts, hard work and even his life for proliferation of Science in the country.

The work and efforts of Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah has been appreciated 38 years after his death and he has been awarded the second highest civil award of Pakistan "Hilal-Imtiaz" announced on 14 August 2011. The award was received by his wife Prof Feroza Syed on 23 March 2012. The award ceremony was be held at Presidency of Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Islamabad.