Khatun, Mufti Nurunnessa

Khatun, Mufti Nurunnessa (1939-1997) botanist, teacher, writer and horticulturist. She was born on 31st December, 1939, in Sylhet. Her early childhood was spent in Shillong, Assam. She came to Sylhet in 1947, and was admitted to the Government Girls' School. She passed the Matriculation examination in 1953. Mufti Nurunnessa Khatun passed the ISc and BSc examinations from the Murari Chand College, Sylhet and got her MSc degree in Botany from Dhaka University with Mycology and Phytopathology as a special branch of study. Beside her brief involvement in teaching in the Quaid-e-Azam College, Dhaka and Women's College, Sylhet, she started her regular teaching career in 1962 at MC College, Sylhet. She joined the jagannath college as an Assistant Professor in 1967.

Khatun studied at University of Liverpool, England, taking an MSc degree in 1971. On her return, she taught at Jagannath College, Eden Girls' College, and Begum Badrunnessa Mohila College from 1973-1975. She was Head of the Departments of Botany and Zoology of Begum Badrunnessa Mohila College during 1975-1981. She became Professor of Botany in 1992 and joined the Khulna Mohila College as Vice-Principal, from where she voluntarily retired due to bad health in the same year.

Mufti Nurunnessa Khatun was a life member of the bangladesh botanical society and a member of the Royal National Rose Society of England. She founded the bangladesh national rose society in 1981. She organised rose exhibitions for many years, and Floriculture in Bangladesh today is possibly the fruit of her hardwork. She wrote and translated many scientific articles, and wrote in magazines like Chandana, Bijnan Bichitra, Purogami Bijnan, etc. Her book on 'GOLAP' is on the culture and cultivation of roses in Bangladesh. Mufti Nurunnessa Khatun died on 4 December 1997. [Mahbubar Rahman Khan]