Today (Saturday) is the 11th death anniversary of renowned nuclear scientist and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s husband Dr. M A Wazed Miah, reports BSS. The nuclear scientist with international reputation was born on February 16, 1942 in a respectable Muslim family at village LaldigheeFatehpur in Pirganj upazila of Rangpur district. He died on May 9, 2009. He was laid to eternal rest with full state honour at their family graveyard in his paternal village Laldighee Fatehpur.
Due to the present situation caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, different organisations have postponed observance of the day through daylong programmes like in the past ten years to maintain physical distance.
“Placing wreaths at the grave of Dr Wazed in limited scale, offering Fateha and distribution of Iftar among orphans seeking divine blessings for his departed soul may be allowed,” said President of Dr MA Wazed Foundation and Vice-president of district Awami League (AL) AKM Chhayadat Hossain Bakul. The Pirganj upazila AL, Dr. MA Wazed Foundation, family of Dr Wazed and other organisations will observe the death anniversary in a limited scale. Dr Wazed Smriti Sangsad (DWSS) will arrange a milad mahfil maintaining physical distance at Keramotia Jam-e-Mosque in Rangpur city seeking divine blessings and eternal peace of the departed soul tomorrow afternoon. “In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, we have canceled the day-long programmes as we chalked out every year in the past to observe the death anniversary of Dr. Wazed,” said General Secretary of DWSS and senior journalist Saiful Islam Jahangir. According to his family sources, Dr Wazed was the youngest among four sons and three daughters of Abdul Quader Miah.
He studied up to class four at the primary school at his native village and then up to class six at a high school in Pirganj town. He passed matriculation examinations from Rangpur Zila School in 1956 in first division with distinctions and then enrolled in Rajshahi Government College from where he passed the Higher Secondary Certificate Examinations. Wazed Miah was admitted to the Department of Physics at Dhaka University in 1958 and secured first class first position in both B.Sc. (honours) and M.Sc. examinations in 1961 and 1962 respectively.
He joined the then Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission on April 9, 1963 and obtained his diploma from Imperial College of London in 1963-1964.
Wazed Miah returned home in September, 1967 after obtaining his Ph.D. degree in physics from Durham University in the United Kingdom and joined as a Scientific Officer at the Atomic Energy Research Centre in Dhaka.
Later, he was engaged in post-doctoral research from November 1969 to 1970 in London. Dr. Wazed Miah married Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on November 17, 1967. They have a son SajeebWazed Joy and a daughter SaimaWazedPutul.
In 1969, Dr. Wazed got the associate-ship of Italy-based International Theoretical Physics Research Centre of Nobel Laureate Professor Dr. Salam where he engaged in a research project.
He returned home in the same year to work with the Atomic Energy Research Centre. In 1975, he was in West Germany to pursue higher training on atomic reactor science. Sheikh Hasina was also with him at that time.
Dr. Wazed conducted research work at New Delhi-based laboratory of Indian Atomic Energy Commission from 1975 to 1982.
On return home, the nuclear scientist, who has a colourful working life experience, rejoined the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and retired as its chairman in 1999.
Apart from his publications on scientific research and nuclear science, Dr Wazed also authored a number of books on social and political issues, including one on the memories of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Talking to BSS here, Dr. Wazed’s classmate Monwar Hossain said “Wazed was a completely honest and cordial man who maintained a low profile in personal life, led a very simple life and never compromised with anything unjust.”
