Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia pays her last respect to Dr MA Wazed Miah, husband of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, at Sudha Sadan in the city yesterday. Photo: Courtesy

A nuclear scientist of international repute, Dr MA Wazed Miah, who breathed his last at a city hospital yesterday, is known more for his professional excellence in scientific arena, but the close friends and contemporaries were familiar to his role also as a student leader during the climax of Bangalee nationalist movement in 1960s.
Several friends and contemporaries said his quality earned him the position of the vice-president of Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall while he was always under the affectionate shadow of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
But his academic excellence and the knack for academic pursuit made him a nuclear scientist, eventually installing him at the helm of the country's Atomic Energy Commission during his long career as a researcher and fellow at scientific institutes and organisations in different countries, including Germany and India.
"He always tried to maintain a low profile in his personal life, led a very simple life and was an amiable person but never compromised on anything unjust," a relative said.
Apart from his publications on scientific research and nuclear science, Dr Wazed Miah also authored a number of books on social and political issues, including one on the memories of Bangabandhu.
Born on February 16 in 1942 in a respectable Muslim family of Fatepur village in Pirganj, Rangpur, Dr Wazed was the youngest among four sons and three daughters of Abdul Quader Mia.
He studied up to class four at the primary school at his village and then up to class six at a high school in Pirganj.
He obtained his matriculation from Rangpur Government District School in 1956 in first division and then enrolled in Rajshahi Science College from where he passed the Higher Secondary Certificate examinations.
Wazed Miah was admitted to physics department of Dhaka University in 1958 and secured first class first position in both BSc (hons) and MSc examinations in 1961 and in 1962 respectively.
He joined the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission on April 9 in 1963 and obtained his diploma from Imperial College of London in 1963- 64.
Wazed Miah returned home in September 1967 after obtaining his PhD 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 engaged in post-doctoral research from November 1969 to 1970 in London.
Wazed Miah married Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, on November 17 in 1967. They have a son and a daughter.
In 1969, he got the associateship of Italy-based International Theoretical Physics Research Centre of Nobel Laureate Prof Dr Salam where he engaged in a research project.
He returned home the same year to work with the Atomic Energy Research Centre.
In 1975, he was in the then West Germany to pursue higher training on atomic reactor science. Hasina was also with him at that time.
Wazed Miah also conducted research work at New Delhi-based laboratory of Indian Atomic Energy Commission from 1975 to 1982.
On return home, he rejoined the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and retired as its chairman in 1999.