Eminent nuclear scientist Dr Chowdhury Sajjadul Karim, also a former advisor to a caretaker government, has died. The former Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission chairman, widely acclaimed by colleagues for his professional qualities, was 67. He breathed his last at a hospital in Dhaka on Friday night, his nephew Syed Minhaj told media. His family said he was told by his physician that he had pneumonia when he visited him with fever on Thursday afternoon. He was admitted to Bangladesh Medical College Hospital, where he was kept at the Intensive Care Unit. He was given life support when his condition deteriorated. The doctors declared him dead around 10:45pm on Friday. The former Bangladesh Physical Society president was an international nuclear inspector for the Vienna-based global watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency. He advised the Fakhruddin Ahmed-led caretaker government on agriculture, fisheries and environment issues. Dr Karim, an expert on nuclear power and energy, and safety, had also served on national committees formulating energy and power policies. He always advocated the need for a nuclear power plant for energy-starved Bangladesh. Dr Karim was born at his mother’s ancestral home at Chiitagong’s Mirsarai on Jan 7, 1948. He had to change schools several times as his judge father was transferred from one district to another. After clearing school certificate examinations in 1964, he did his BSc and MSc in physics at the Dhaka University. He received his PhD and post-doctorate degrees on nuclear physics from Russia.
