Rahman, Muhammad Habibar
Rahman, Muhammad Habibar (1923-1971) educationist, martyr intellectual. He was born on 1 January 1923 at village Baliadhar in Noakhali district. Habibar Rahman matriculated from Dattapara High School in 1938 and ISc from Calcutta Islamia College in 1940. He obtained BSc. (Hons) in Mathematics from Presidency College, Kolkata and MSc in Mathematics from Aligarh University. He joined as Professor of Mathematics in Dhaka College in 1946. While in Dhaka College he secured a government scholarship and went to England for higher studies in 1951. He obtained Tripos in Mathematics from Cambridge University in 1953. For sometime he worked as Professor of Mathematics in Presidency College and Islamia College, Kolkata. He joined Rajshahi University in 1954 as Professor of Mathematics and was promoted to the post of Reader in 1958. He left for the United States for higher studies in Applied Mathematics in 1962. He was chairman of the Department of Mathematics in Rajshahi University from 1864-1966. He was the Provost of Ameer Ali Hall of Rajshahi University from 1967 to 1970. He had been the chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1970 to 1971.
During his stay in Kolkata, Rahman was a member of the Radical Humanist Group. In mid 1940s, Dhaka Rationalist Club published a monthly journal titled Mukti and Rahman was the publisher of this journal. A good number of his articles were published in newspapers and journals. Among his notable books are Yogasrayi, Bijganit, Natun Bijganit, Patiganit, On Pell’s Equation.
Habibar Rahman had active role in the nationalist movement during the 1960s and in anti-Ayub mass upsurge, 1969. On 15 April 1971 the Pak army arrested him and kept him confined in the guest room of Rajshahi University. He could no longer be traced. [Mohammad Faiquzzaman]
