Saturday, March 31, 2012

Death in Norway

Prof Dr Shah died thousands of miles away from home in Norway on 16 December 1975. He was in his last visit to Norway for 4 months to investigate some samples of his Phd students. He was happy to return home after completing his research work and informed his family about his return. He packed his belongings  in Norway and received a farewell party organized by this friends. One of his friend in a letter to his family told that he was healthy and did not complaint about his health. But unfortunately he was found dead in his room lying on floor on 16 December 1975. This death certificate shows unknown cause of death as written in Cause of Death: "Mors subita cuasa ignota" (Google Translate it as " suffered Unknown Cause". Only cause of death is written in Norwegian language and rest of the certificate is in English).
Though life and death are destiny but this surprising death posed question in minds of his family, friends and followers.  

Friday, March 30, 2012

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Masjid-e-Bilal, University of Sindh Employees Col...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Masjid-e-Bilal, University of Sindh Employees Col...: Masjid-e-Bilal Image Courtesy: Syed Shahnawaz Shah, Lecturer, US. Besides teaching and research activities Dr S W Shah contributed i...

Masjid-e-Bilal, University of Sindh Employees Colony

Masjid-e-Bilal
Image Courtesy: Syed Shahnawaz Shah, Lecturer, US.
Besides teaching and research activities Dr S W Shah contributed in welfare activities within and outside University of Sindh. He was assigned the responsibility to look after Employees Colony.  He was a religious person and felt the need of mosque in colony. His efforts manifested in Masjid-e-Bilal in University of Sindh Employees Colony.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I.

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: 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 crea...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Award and Medals

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Award and Medals: Award The award certificate signed by Mr Asif Ali Zardari, President Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Hilal-e-Imtiaz was awarded to Prof ...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Birth Place and Early Education of Prof Dr S W Sha...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Birth Place and Early Education of Prof Dr S W Sha...: Prof Dr Wadal Shah was born in a respectable Syed family in a small village Amin Lakho situated about 3 km from national highway near New ...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Dr Syed Wadal Shah Road, University of Sindh Jamsh...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Dr Syed Wadal Shah Road, University of Sindh Jamsh...: Courtesy of Mr Altaf Sheikh A road near Marvi Hostel in University of Sindh. Dr S W Shah used to live in Sindh University colony. Afte...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Booklet Published by Dr Syed Wadal Shah (late) Mem...

Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah, H.I: Booklet Published by Dr Syed Wadal Shah (late) Mem...

Booklet Published by Dr Syed Wadal Shah (late) Memorial Committee


















Dr Syed Wadal Shah Road, University of Sindh Jamshoro

Courtesy of Mr Altaf Sheikh
A road near Marvi Hostel in University of Sindh. Dr S W Shah used to live in Sindh University colony. After his sad demise in Norway a road nearby his residence was given his name.  





Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Birth Place and Early Education of Prof Dr S W Shah

Prof Dr Wadal Shah was born in a respectable Syed family in a small village Amin Lakho situated about 3 km from national highway near New Saeedabad, District Hyderabad Sindh. His father died in his early childhood. He got his primary education from Govt Boys Primary School Amin Lakho. His primary teacher was Syed Lal Shah. After completion of his primary education he continued his secondary education from Govt High School Hala where he used to live in hostel. He completed his higher education from Govt College Kari Mori, Hyderabad. Rest of his education career is given in his profile.


Press Releases and Media Coverage on 23 March 2012 Award Ceremoney

Award and Medals

Award
The award certificate signed by Mr Asif Ali Zardari, President Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Hilal-e-Imtiaz was awarded to Prof Dr Syed Wadal Shah on 23 March 2012 at Presidency of Islamic Republic of Pakistan at Islamabad. The award was received by his wife Prof Feroza Syed.
Medals and Badges



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.