Kafil Ahmad Chowdhury was Indian botanist, wood technologist, professor and head of the department of Botany.
Background
Kafil Ahmad Chowdhury was born on February 1, 1902 in Raipura village, Naokhali district, Bangladesh. His father, Ayub Ali, a landlord, passed away when Kafil was only four years old and he was brought up by his mother Hyatunnessa, and his elder brothers.
Education
Subsequent to his earlier school education at Raipura and Lakhimpur in Bangladesh, Kafil Chowdhury went to Calcutta to study humanities. Soon after his graduation in arts in 1922 from Calcutta University, he left for Edinburgh to enter a course in forestry at Edinburgh University. Kafil received his first degree in science from Edinburgh University in 1925. Then he got Master of Science at Syracuse University (USA) in 1929. His researches by 1940 earned him the highest degree in science, the Doctor of Science of Edinburgh University.
Career
In 1940, Kafil Ahmad Chowdhury presided over the Botany Section of the Indian Science Congress; and in 1954, he became the president of the Indian Botanical Society. On his retirement from the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun, in 1956 he joined the Aligarh Muslim University as professor of botany, retiring there in 1968. It is here that he largely devoted himself to the history of cultivated plants from materials from archaeological sites.
Kafil Ahmad Chowdhury presided over two symposia under the 8th International Botanical Congress held at Seattle. In 1961, he was vice-president of The Pacific Sience Congress held at Honolulu. In 1970 Kafil Ahmad Chowdhury presided over the UNESCO Conference on Contribution of People of Central Asia in the Development of Sciences, held at Islamabad, Pakistan.Toured UK, USA, Holland. He continued active research till his death.