Chowdhury, Fazlul Halim

Chowdhury, Fazlul Halim (1930-1996) scientist and educationist. Born in the village of Kunjasreepur of Comilla district, Fazlul Halim Chowdhury received the MSc degree in Chemistry from Dhaka University and PhD from Manchester University on an '1851 Exhibition Scholarship';.

He began his career as a lecturer in Chemistry at Dhaka University in 1952. Then he joined Rajshahi University and became reader in 1958 and Professor in 1963. Prof. Chowdhury was the founder Head and Professor of the Department of Applied Chemistry, Rajshahi University in 1967. He was elected Dean of the Faculty of Science, Rajshahi University in 1972. Professor Chowdhury returned to Dhaka University, became the vice-chancellor of the university in 1976. His area of research covered electrochemistry, cellulose chemistry and physical chemistry of polyelectrolytes. About 30 research papers were published in national and international journals covering his research findings.

Fazlul Halim Chowdhury Professor Chowdhury was a Fellow of the Nuffield Foundation, Cambridge University from 1960 to 1962; Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellow of the same university from 1972 to 1973; Senior Fellow of the Asia Foundation and American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1984. He was a member of the university grants commission from 1974 to 1976. He was elected president of Bangladesh Association for the Advancement of Science in 1982 and the bangladesh chemical society in 1984. Professor Chowdhury was appointed chairman of the College Reorganisation Committee in 1975 and also a member of the advisory council for reorganisation of the education system in 1983. Professor Fazlul Halim Chowdhury died on 9 April 1996. [Md Mahbub Murshed] [Murshed, Md Mahbub Assistant Professor of Geography and Environment, Chittagong University]