Dr. Wasim Ahmad, Professor Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University received E.K. Janaki Ammal National Award for Animal Taxonomy, the highest award for Indian taxonomists instituted by the Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India. He received this prestigious award from Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Honorable Minister of Environment & Forest, Government of India and Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on 5 June 2011, the World Environment Day in a colorful event organized at Hotel Ashok, New Delhi. The award carries a medallion, a scroll, a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000/-. Along with him Dr. D.B. Singh, Director Botanical Survey of India received the Award for Plant Taxonomy.
Dr. Ahmad is an Internationally acclaimed nematode taxonomist with over three decades of experience working on soil nematode fauna of different geographical regions of India and has described several hundred new taxa of nematodes. He has also the distinction of describing large number of new nematode taxa from over twenty different countries of the world. In addition, his several books and monographs have been published by the world renowned publisher, E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. He has visited many countries as an expert of nematode taxonomy and is recipient of prestigious visiting fellowships from Royal Society, London (UK), Dutches Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (Japan), Erasmus Mundus Scholar (European Union), Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), Third World Academy of Science (Italy), Korean Science Foundation (Korea), Raffles Museum Visiting Fellowship (Singapore), Institut Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica) and many others. Since its inception in 1999 by the Government of India, Dr. Ahmad is the youngest to have been honored with this award. Dr. Wasim’s international recognition can be ascertained from the fact that way back in 1996, Scientists from the British Museum Natural History, London named a new genus of nematode Wasimellus enigmatus Bloemers & Wanless in recognition of his contribution to Nematode taxonomy. This is a very rare recognition for an Indian Scientists by the British Scientists. His admirers have dedicated several other new species in his name, Laimydorus wasimi Bohra & Baqri, Mylonchulus wasimi Tiasi, Chatterjee & Manna; Helicotylenchus wasimi Gantait, Bhattacharya & Chatterjee; Aporcelaimellus ahmadi Sergio & Pena-Santiago etc.
Dr. Ahmad is an Internationally acclaimed nematode taxonomist with over three decades of experience working on soil nematode fauna of different geographical regions of India and has described several hundred new taxa of nematodes. He has also the distinction of describing large number of new nematode taxa from over twenty different countries of the world. In addition, his several books and monographs have been published by the world renowned publisher, E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. He has visited many countries as an expert of nematode taxonomy and is recipient of prestigious visiting fellowships from Royal Society, London (UK), Dutches Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), Japanese Society for Promotion of Science (Japan), Erasmus Mundus Scholar (European Union), Chinese Academy of Sciences (China), Third World Academy of Science (Italy), Korean Science Foundation (Korea), Raffles Museum Visiting Fellowship (Singapore), Institut Nacional de Biodiversidad (Costa Rica) and many others. Since its inception in 1999 by the Government of India, Dr. Ahmad is the youngest to have been honored with this award. Dr. Wasim’s international recognition can be ascertained from the fact that way back in 1996, Scientists from the British Museum Natural History, London named a new genus of nematode Wasimellus enigmatus Bloemers & Wanless in recognition of his contribution to Nematode taxonomy. This is a very rare recognition for an Indian Scientists by the British Scientists. His admirers have dedicated several other new species in his name, Laimydorus wasimi Bohra & Baqri, Mylonchulus wasimi Tiasi, Chatterjee & Manna; Helicotylenchus wasimi Gantait, Bhattacharya & Chatterjee; Aporcelaimellus ahmadi Sergio & Pena-Santiago etc.
