Dr. Harkishan Singh

Description

Dr. Harkishan Singh, a well known Pharmaceutical Academic, Medicinal Chemistry Researcher andScience historian, was born on 25th November 1928 at Layalpur in the house of Bibi Harnam Kaur and S. Subheg Singh. He had his School education at different places and passed his matriculation examination from Inter-Sikh National College, Lahore. After partition, he did his B-Pharma in 1950 from Punjab University, M-Pharma in 1952 from Banaras Hindu University and Ph.D. in 1956 from Banaras Hindu University. He worked at Banaras Hindu University, University of Sagar and Punjab University in India. He also worked abroad at the University of Maryland, University of Mississippi and University of London. During his teaching and research career he has been on many academic, scientific, professional and Governmental bodies.
He was a member of the Committee on Education in Medicinal Chemistry of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which prepared the Report on the International Education of Medicinal Chemists (IUPAC Technical Reports Number 13; 1974). His affiliations with several scientific and professional organizations include emeritus membership of the American Chemical Society, life memberships of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India, and memberships of the American Institute of History of Pharmacy and British Society for History of Pharmacy. His research work is comprised of 50 Master and Doctor, thesis (completed under his supervision), 125 original scientific research papers, 14 patents and the designing of a clinically useful drug candocuronium iodide (INN) (chandonium iodide, HS-310), which is a synthetic azasteroid. Dr. Singh has lectured on his research at several of the institutions and conferences sin India, United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom and China. He delivered lectures at the Harvard School of Medicine and at the International Symposium on Molecular Structure sponsored by the International Union of Crystallography at Beijing. As a science historian Professor Singh has examined the history of pharmaceutical developments in India of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His history research studies have been on pharmacopoeias and formularies, pharmaceutical education, pharmacy practice, biographies of pharmaceutical luminaries, and pharmaceutical journalism. He has published over fifty articles. In addition to his scientific and history research papers, Dr. Singh has authored and/or coauthored twelve books and nearly two dozens of review articles, including several book chapters. He has written extensively on educational, scientific, historical and professional issues. All told his total publications come well to over 300. For his marvelous achievements, S. Harkishan Singh has been honoured with many awards and recognitions. He has been a national Fellow OF THE University Grants Commission, New Delhi. He has been General President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress. He received Eminent Pharmacist Award of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association. Dr. Singh’s standing as historian has been recognized through his election to the Academie Internationale d’Histoire de la Pharacie. The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia conferred upon Professor Harkishan Singh the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his distinguished academic career and outstanding contributions to scientific research in organic and medicinal chemistry and the history of pharmacy. He has recently been honoured with Padam Shri (January 2017) by Government of India. Such a distinguished scientist with excellent achievements, particularly the search of a drug recognized by World Health Organization, makes all the Indian proud of him, the Sikhs in particular.