The PakistanAcademy of Sciences, is a learned society of sciences, which described itself as "a repository of the highest scientific talent available in the country." Established in 1953 in Lahore, Punjab, the Academy acts as a consultative forum and scientific advisor to the Pakistan government on important aspects on the affairs of all forms of science– the social and physical sciences. Regulating affairs of by its Charter and laws approved by the fellows, the Academy is governed by a council that is chaired by its President. Due to its utmost importance, the fellowship of the academy is extremely restricted, only to the scholars of the high merit who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge. As of current, Qasim Jan is the President of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences who took after succeeding Anwar Nasim in 2017.
History
The idea of establishing the Academy was mooted in November 1947 when the first national education conference was organized by the Ministry of Education in Karachi, Sindh, which was inaugurated Muhammad Ali Jinnah– the founder and the Governor-General of Pakistan. No immediate actions were taken at that time, though the discussion to establish the academy continues between the senior scientists and the Pakistan government. After an extensive discussion took in 1948-53, the academy was established and materialized in a concession reached by the senior scientists and government, with the assistance from the foreign scientists and the foreign learned societies. Many scholars and scientists emigrated from India to Pakistan in the 1950s that would give foundation to the academy, including Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Nazir Ahmed, and Raziuddin Siddiqui. Eventually, a draft was written by Raziuddin Siddiqui and approved by the council in 1950. After considerable planning and deliberations, the inauguration of the Academy was fixed, and it was established on 16 February 1953 by Prime MinisterKhawaja Nazimuddin who was the chief guest at the inauguration. The ceremony took place at the University of the Punjab and was witnessed by a gathering of over 1,000 scientists, including from the Royal Society, National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Science and Letters, National Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences, and UNESCO. Dr. Nazir Ahmed delivered an honorary message to Prime Minister Nazimuddin for helping the cause of the Academy. At first, the Academy was sited in Lahore and considerations were made to establish the headquarters of the Academy in Karachi—a temporary federal capital at that time. An additional office was established in Dhaka to support scientific activities in East Pakistan. In 1965, the headquarters of the academy was permanently shifted to Islamabad the federal capital and was located near the Quaid-e-Azam University until 1976. In 1976, the headquarters was shifted to a rented building in Islamabad, with financial assistance from the Pakistan Science Foundation. The rented building contained the library of the Academy, a committee room, office rooms for the Secretary, the editor and officestaff, and a couple of guest rooms for visiting fellows. Special initiatives taken by senior scientists in 1978, President Zia-ul-Haq granted a federal land for the purpose of Academy's headquarters near the Constitution Avenue by allocating ₨. 700 million which commissioned CDA Engineering for designing and constructing the headquarters. In 1979, the headquarters of the academy was inaugurated.
Fellowships
The Fellowship of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences is dominated by the physical sciences, and has 132 fellows as of 2020. Due to its importance, the Fellowships of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences are tightly restricted to the scientists who met the criteria of their qualifications. Only scientists of the highest merit, who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge, are elected as Fellows of the Academy. Not more than five fellows can be elected during any one year; the maximum permissible number of fellows is one hundred. Majority of the fellows of the Academy are Pakistani scientists eminent for their original contribution to science, who are elected by the General Body according to the procedure laid down in the bylaws. The foreign fellowship has been bestowed upon the foreign scientists of eminence who have made contributions towards scientific development in Pakistan in one way or the other.
Research
The Academy has a rich tradition of organizing conferences promoting the work of researchers from multiple fields of science. The Academy's Lahore chapter recently held a National Research Conference in Lahore on 29 and 30 June 2007.
Publications
The Academy regularly publishes a quarterly journal since 1963 that is distributed to international scientific organizations and universities by subscription and on exchange basis.
