Shamim Jairajpuri

Dr. M. Shamim JairajpuriProfessor & INSA Senior ScientistDepartment of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University,Aligarh 202002, India Professor Mohammad Shamim Jairajpuri was born in 1942 in district Azamgarh, U.P. He obtained his B.Sc.(1959), M.Sc.(1961) and Ph.D.(1964) degrees from the Aligarh Muslim University. The degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in Zoology on his thesis entitled “Plant-parasitic and Soil-inhabiting Nematodes” was awarded to him by the Aligarh Muslim University in 1970 at the young age of 28 years. He was first appointed a Lecturer (1964) then Reader (1972), and finally Professor (1983). He became the Chairman (1988-89 & 1997-98) of Zoology Department and Dean (1993-95 & 1997-98) of the Faculty of Life Sciences ,AMU. Prof. Jairajpuri has done pioneering research work on plant and soil nematodes for which the Zoological Survey of India awarded him gold medals in 1997&1998. He is considered a renowned world authority in Nematology. He has published over 20 Books and Monographs, and some 400 research papers in journals of international repute. He is the only one in the world so far having the distinction of publishing over 80 research papers in Nematologica (the Netherlands) and over 40 papers in the Revue de Nematologie (France), the two top-most international journals in the subject of Nematology. Prof. Jairajpuri is the Fellow of several learned Academies/Societies of the world such as FNA, FASc, FNASc, FNAAS, TWAS, FIBIOL, FISP, FHS, FLS,FIAS, etc.. He was the President of the Nematological Society of India (1979-81), and Chief Editor of the Indian Journal of Nematology (1977-79), and the Vice President of the Indian National Science Academy as also of the Zoological Society (1989-91). He was Chairman, Programme Advisory Committee of ZSI & BSI, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India during 2001-2004. He is the first recipient of the Janaki Ammal National Award for Taxonomy of the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. He was the President of the Indian Society for Parasitology (2000-2005). In December 2005 he was presented the D’Souza Memorial Award in Nematology and in 2006 Honorary Fellowship of the Nematological Society of India. He has held the coveted position of the Director of Zoological Survey of India from 1989-1991. In 1991, he was appointed Coordinator of the Agriculture Center at AMU and became the Founder Director of the Institute of Agriculture in 1993 and worked in that capacity until July 1996. From 1998 until 2003 he worked as the Founder, Vice Chancellor of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University and simultaneously as the Honorary Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Hyderabad. The Indian National Science Academy has awarded him the Har Swarup Memorial Award and the highly prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 2004. He was awarded Shiksha Rattan Puraskar and Certificate of Excellence by the India International Friendship Society in 2007. The Indian Society for Parasitology awarded him its highly prestigious Life-time Achievement Award in 2007. His e-mail address is [e-mail].