Prof. Ahmad Shamsul-Islam born in January 1, 1926, Prof. Shamsul Islam studied Botany, Plant Breeding and Genetics and won following degrees: BSc (1945) and MSc (1947) at Presidency College, Calcutta, PhD (1954) from Manchester University which awarded him a prize for outstanding work on “breeding of seedless strawberry.”
His post-doctoral activity covered research on “Embryo Culture of Jute” (1961-1962) at Cornell University, USA; on “Uptake of Radioactive Amino-Acids” (1962-1963) at California University (USA); on “Tissue Culture of Jute”; and “Tissue Culture of Orchid” at Nottingham University, UK.
He conducted research work in Third World countries from 1955 on genetics and breeding of food and cash crop; chromosome breakage in mistletoe, plant breeding and tissue culture, and established several courses and laboratories.
He is the founder editor of Sind University Research Journal; Pakistan Journal of Botany; Science Series of Dhaka University, Dar-es-Salam University Scientific Research Journal; and Bangladesh Journal of Botany.
He has published over 100 papers and two textbooks. He also wrote a book entitled, “Character building through the teaching of the Qur’an.”
Prof. Shamsul Islam received the President’s Gold Medal for outstanding contribution to the field of agriculture of Bangladesh, and an Honorary DSc from India.
He is a fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, past Honorary member of the American Institute of Biological Science, National Correspondent for the International Association for Plant Tissue Culture, member of the Indian and the Japanese Societies of Genetic and Plant Breeding, and past Secretary General of Bangladesh Association for Advancement of Science.
Prof. Islam is a Founding Fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (1986). He has been lecturing at the University of Texas (Austin) for the past few years.
Areas of Research
Genetics, Plant Breeding and Tissue Culture in Jute, Cotton, Rice, Millet, Peanut, Orchid and Potato.
Published Papers
Islam AS, Haque MM, Hoquc Ml and Seraj ZI (1992) Tissue Culture and micro propagation of jute (Corchorus species) in Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, Vol 1 9, high Tech and Micropropagation Ill. Bajaj YPS (Ed.), Springer Verlag, Berlin, Heidelbcrg pp. 505-526.
Seraj Z1, Sarker AF3 and Islam AS (1992) Plant regeneration in jute species (C. capsularis) and its possible relationship with glyoxalase-l Plant Cell Rep. 12:29-33.
Hoque Ml, Ilaque MM and Islam AS (1988) Confirmation of Corchorus olitorius X’ C. capsularis hybrids through tissue culture and biochemical tests. Bangladesh J. Hot. 17:71-79.
Islam AS, Shah Newaz and M Hauqe (1973) Origin of spontaneous amphidiploid in the F3 progeny of the cross, Corchorus olitorius X C. depressus. Bangladesh J. Bot. 2(1)41-50.
Islam AS and M. Haque (1972) A natural species hybrid of jute and its possible use in the evolution of the desired plant types. SABRAO Newsletter 4(1):7-16.
lslam AS and A Rashid (1960) First successful hybridization between the two jute yielding species, Corchorus olitorius (Tossa) XC. capsularis (White). Nature 185:258-259.