Brojen Das – first Asian English Channel swimmer with world records is a Bangladeshi

The word ‘’Brojen’’ means the king of heavens. It’s a name in Bangladesh and the person who was named Brojen Das was a swimmer for whom Bangladesh and the whole nation is proud of his achievement.

Brojen Das

Brojen Das was a long distance swimmer. He was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel. The strait between southern England and northern France known as English Channel. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its widest, to only 34 km in the strait of Dover. Channels narrowest part   of English side known as Dovar and French side known as Calais. Usually the swimmers swim to cross the English Channel in this narrowest part. But due to high waves and tides it becomes more than 56 km way to swim.
Brojen Das was born on 9^th December 1927 in Kuchiamora village of Sirajdikhan Upazila, Munshiganj in Bangladesh. His father Harendra Kumar Das was a supplier in army and he had a business of cement trading. Harendra Kumar Das had three sons but no daughter. Brojen Das did his primary education in his native village. He completed his matriculation (final school examination) in 1946 from the AKL Jubilee High School, Farashgonj, Dhaka. Then he passed Intermediate and Bachelor of Arts from Vidyasagor College, Kolkata in West Bengal in India.
As other Bangladeshi boys Brojen Das also started swimming nearby his village river Dholeshory. After completing primary school he moved at Farashgonj,in Dhaka with his parents. The turbulent waters of river Buriganga was his first training ground. From his early life he showed his swimming ability. He championed himself as a master swimmer in an inter-school competition in 1943-45 and inter-college competition in 1948-49. Later in 1952, he became a champion in 100 – meter freestyle in West Bengal in India. The sports lovers in the then Pakistan saw an emerging star in the sports arena when Brojen Das became champion in 100 m, 200 m, 400 m and 1500 m freestyle swimming in 1953 in Bangladesh (the then East Pakistan). He also became the Pakistan’s national champion in 100 m and 200 m freestyle swimming, in 1955.  In the same year, he became champion in 100 m, 200 m and 400 m of freestyle swimming in the Pakistan inter university competition. So in most local and national swimming competitions and tournaments Brojen Das proved himself to be an outstanding swimmer.

King of the Channel-certificate of  Brojen Das achievement

Brojen Das was a short course swimmer. But When he was preparing himself to take part in the Olympic Competition in Melborn, Australia, in 1956, he was not counted as a member of the Pakistan swimming team. They took four West Pakistani swimmers in the swimming team. This incident changed his mind and he decided to do something best himself. His transition to long-distance sea-swimming gave him immortality and eternal fame in the annals of swimming history. His career took a new turn when he got an invitation to participate in the English Channel swimming competition in 1958. He took this challenge. To make him capable for this competition he started to train up himself hard. He then made the river Sitalakhya and most turbulent part of the lower Meghna river as his training field. Finally, he swam from    Narayanganj to Chandpur, a distance of about 75 km. He also accomplished with credit a non-stop 48 hours swimming, covering approx. 97 km in Dhaka swimming pool.
Then Brojen Das arrived in England in June 1958 for the Billy Butlin Channel event as the only participant from South Asian countries. 30 swimmers from 23 countries took part in this competition. The swimming begun at midnight of August 18, 1958 and ended in the afternoon of the next day. 21 of the 30 swimmers dropped out, mostly due to exhaustion, but Bangladeshi Brojen Das continued undaunted to not only to secure the first position in the competition but also became the first Asian ever to complete the swim.
In 1959, he not only succeeded in swimming from the Capri Island to Naples in Italy, but also succeeded in three long-distance international swimming competitions. He swam from England side to France, that took 13 hours and 26 minutes. In the same year he crossed the Channel again from France side to England and took 13 hours 53 minutes to complete the swim. It was also a world record that he was the first long distance swimmer who completed 3 long distance swim in a year.

Above: Brojen Das with India's former PM
Jawaharlal Nehru and down:with
Pakistan's former President Ayub Khan

1961, Brojen Das jumped into the channel from French side on 8^th September for the fifth time to upgrade his own timing and had the motto to cross the channel in the record time. In the beginning the sea was very good and quite. But the sea turned very rough towards the end. It was very hard and challenging to complete the swim. It took 11 hours and 48 minutes for him. He decided himself to try again at the next neap tide. On September 21, 1961, within 12 days of his fifth swim, a record in itself, with his hard determination and single-mindedness, Brojen Das completed his swim from France side in 10 hours 35 minutes, breaking the 11 years-old record by 15 minutes. In fact, in 1961, Brojen Das earned glory and fame when he created World Records in Channel swimming to put his name in the Guinness Book of World Records. Not only did he cross the English Channel in record time, he crossed it six times and created two world records on the same day.
For his excellent and incredible performance in swimming arena Brojen Das was rewarded many times. The most notable awards that he got were : in 1959  the Pakistan Government honoured him by giving the ‘’Pride of Performance’’. His name was enlisted in the ‘’ International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame’’ in 1965. Bangladesh Government gave him the National Award in 1976 for his valuable contribution in the field of sports and games. He earned the trophy of ‘’King of Channel’’ from the Channel Swimming Association of the United Kingdom in 1986. He was conferred by Bangladesh government ‘’Swadhinata Padak’’ (post humously) in 1999. He was also awarded by some other Bangladeshi organizations. One of the most significant awards was Dhaka University Blue in 1956.

Above:Brojen Das with his
     daughter and son-in-law at his age
65+; down : with his children
 when they were little

Brojen Das was actively involved with various sport clubs and organizations. He was president of Farashgonj Sporting Club. He acted as an advisor to the U.S. Olympic swimming team which took part in 1964 Tokyo Olympic. He was Vice- President of World Long Distance Swimming Association, Atlanta, USA. Brojen Das was General Secretary of Bangladesh Swimming Federation, 1972-1975. He was honorary Life Member of Royal Live Saving Society, UK, from 1959, honorary life member of Dhaka Club, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Many other swimming clubs and organizations of India, UK, Bangladesh made him their honorary member and showed his name even in their executive board to be self honoured.
Due to his achievement he was invited by many countries presidents, prime ministers and even by the queen of UK to meet with them. He came to close contact  with many celebraties and legendary people. He got many compliments and recognitions but the best one I think he got when he met legendary boxer Mohammad Ali during the SAF games in 1985 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The boxing legend said, ‘’You are the king of Channel and I am the king of Ring. But I think your achievement is even greater than mine.’’
In his personal life Brojen Das was married with Madhu Chanda Bose on the 10^th February, 1965 in Calcutta, West Bengal. Madhu Chanda Das is a classical music singer. Brojen Das had one daughter Sanghita Pal and one son Soumojit Das.

Brojen Das with legendary boxer
Mohammad Ali during the SAF games
in Dhaka in the year 1985

After swimming music and film were another great passion for him. He was involved in producing and distributing with several Indian Bangla films. Stree, Sai Chok, Babu Moshaai, Gopal Bhar etc. were most box office hit movies. Brojen Das acted also in Gopal Bhar film and his Stree movie was box office hit movie. Legendary hero Uttam Kumar and heroin Supria were in the main role of this film.
Brojen Das became sick when he got first heart attack in 1984. Second time it happened in 1990 and then he did open heart surgery in 1991 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. After operation he was much better. Few years after in 1997, doctor found that he had cancer in throat. Just after one year he died at the age of 71 on 1^st June 1998 in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. His body was cremated at Postagola cremation site in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 3^rd June 1998 at night.  
Cremated body’s ash of Brojen Das was then thrown in the river Buriganga where he started swimming from his boyhood and earned his name and fame in Channel swimming.


S: brojendas.com; sports-columns.blogspot.com; banglapedia.org; my.opera.com/tuhinra; thedailystar.net/magazine(2009-01-01);                                                                                                                                    

Sajid Ali Howlader- youngest biologist who described a new species of frog from Bangladesh

Mohammad Sajid Ali Howlader

Fejervarya asmati is a scientific name of a new species of frog that has recently discovered. This type of frog is now commonly known as Bangladeshi Cricket frog. A young biologist from Bangladesh Mohammad Sajid Ali Howlader has found this frog and has described about this frog.

This is unique that for the first time a species of wild life(amphibians,reptiles,mammals) has discovered by any Bangladeshi biologist from Bangladesh. All of our wild life species were described by European biologists. British biologist Theobald had described a new species of frog from Jessore of Bangladesh in 1868(this species is now treated as invalid species). Then after 150 years, a new species of frog is discovered from Chittagong region of Bangladesh. Mohammed Sajid Ali Howlader has named this frog after his teacher's name Dr.Ghazi S M Asmat professor of Zoology Department in Chittagong University.



Fejervarya asmati - new species frog



Mohammad Sajid Ali Howlader found this frog at ''Katapahar'' area in Chittagong University campus.Upto now in the world zoologist have discovered, described and have enlisted 650 species of frogs. And Sajid Ali Howlader can identify 26 species of frogs on their vocal call. Before publish the artical he had to cross check with all of these species characteristics, types, nature and to be sure that its a new one species. Under a long period he had to keep contact with the renowned and famous zoologist of different countries including Portugal, Italy, USA, UK, Germany, Japan for sound analysis and other characteristics of all species of frogs. Mohammed Sajid Ali Howlader found this frog in May,2008 and submitted his article to the most renowned Zootaxa joutnal authority January,2010. Journal authority checked all the informations and placed more than 500 questions about his article-related the new species.After three times reviewing the article, authority accepted his article on19th January,2011 that Fejervarya asmati is a new species and then published his article on the 9th February 2011,volume no. 2761.
Fejervarya asmati frog is 29-33 mm in size. The frog is characterized by having butterfly-shaped vocal marking, calling characters, morphological ratios of body parts, relative length of fingers. It looks little bit olive in colour. On its back it has red spots on the white mark.

Personal lab in his student hostel's room

Sajid Ali Howlader is 26 years old and just completes his bachelor degree from Chittagong University of Bangladesh. He has done this job with self-funding and self interest. However, it is quite rare that he described this new species independently or without any guidance or co-authors. Interestingly he has no personal computer or digital camera and manage those on loan from others. According to the information of Dr.Darrel Frost, curator of American Museum of Natural History, Sajid Ali Howlader is the youngest in taxonomist in herpetology who has described a new species independently or without any coauthors.Mohammed Sajid Ali Howlader was born in Shahabag, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 28 October, 1985. He is younger child of Late-Md.Keramat Ali Howlader and Mrs.Noorjahan Begum. He has one elder brother and sister. He completed SSC examination from B.C.S.I.R. High School, Dhaka on 2001 and HSC examination from Bangladesh Navy College, Dhaka Cant. in the year 2003. Besides his studies he engaged himself in extra curriculam activities. He has identified 25 species of snakes in the Wildlife Museum of Bangladesh Forest Research Institute.
In an interview Sajid told,'' I am always trying something better for world. I want to work for nature and herpetofauna. I pass my every day with them. ......I have aimed to research on evolution biology for next 20 years.''

S: sajidpabc.webs.com; biggani.com; ittefaq.com.bd(2011-03-12);

One of the Youtube founder is a Bangladeshi



Jawed Karim



Youtube.com ---- everybody knows about this world's most popular website.Do'nt need to say more about this.

Youtube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload,share and view videos.This website uses Adobe Flash Video technology to display a wide variety of user-generated video content,including movie clips,TV clips and music videos,as well as amature content such as video blogging and short original vodeos.Most of the content on Youtube has been uploaded by individuals,although media corporations including CBS,BBC,Vevo and other organizations offer some of their material via this site , as part of the Youtube patrnership program.

Unregistered users may watch videos and tegisterd users may upload an unlimited number of vodeos .Videos that are considered to contain potentially offensive content are avilable only to registerd users 18 and older. In November 2006 ,Youtube LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion ,and now operates as a subsidiary of Google. 
Youtube was founded by Chad Hurley , Steve Chen and Jawed Karim in February 2005.Hurley,Chen and Jawed Karim metas early employees at PayPal ,the payment service sold to eBay in 2002.The three,after leaving PayPal,talked aboyt a start-up of their own,possibly a database venture.Hurley had studied design at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,while Chen and Jawed Karim studied computer science together at the University of Illions at Urbana-Champaign.
Beginning of the year 2005 Jawed Karim recalled the difficulty involved in finding and watching videos online of Jennet Jackson accidentally baring her breast during the Super Bowl Show.The same was true with the many amature videos made of that winter's devastating Tsunami.Jawed Karim proposed to Hurley and Chen that they creat a video-sharing site."I thought it was a good idea."Jawed said.
The three agreed within a few days in February 2005,then divided work based on skills :Hurley designed the site's interface and logo.Chen and Jawed Karim spilt technical duties making the site work.They later divided management responsibilities,based on strengths and interests : Hurley became CEO ;Chen chief technology officer.
Jawed Karim already planned to resume computer studies ,so he opted out of management and agreed to take a smaller ownership stake than the other two founders.He continued advising Youtube and a growing number of employees --now 67 --as Hurley and Chen took his "little spark" of an idea and turned it into a fire.

Me at the zoo first youtube video

Youtube's first video,Me at the zoo was uploaded by Jawed Karim on April 23,2005.

Jawed Karim did his master's in computer science from Stanford.He now teaches computer science.He wants to be nothing more than a professor.He simply hopes to follow the footsteps of other Stanford academics who struck fortunes in Silicon Valley and went back to teaching.Jawed's first love , despite his riches and fame ,is an academic career.
Jawed was born in the then East Germany in 1979 .He has a younger brother named Illias ,born in 1989 ,in the then west Germany.His father Naimul Karim is a researcher and his mother Christine Karim is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Minnesota.
Jawed Karim's father Naimul Karim was brought up in the DIT quarters at Shiddheswari in Dhaka.He stood first in the combined merit list for Dhaka Division SSC exams in 1972.Naimul Karim got a scholarship and moved to East Germany for higher education .There he met Christine who was also a student of the same university.

Jawed's parents Naimul and Christine

In 1981 ,although the iron curtain was getting fairly rusted ,the Berlin Wall still stood and democracy and freedom did not rule in the DDR(East Germany).While as a Bangladeshi citizen ,Naimul Karim was free to travel anywhere ,the same was not true for Christine and they longed to escape the regimented restrictionsof the Deutsche Demokratische Republik(DDR-East Germany).At the end of the summer ,Naimul Karim bundled Christine and Jawed on to a train for Amsterdam, presumably on their way to visit Bangladesh .The train stopped at Frankfurt ,the Karims got off and they never looked back. Aided by a West German policy that happily welcomed anyone who successfully scaled the wall , albeit figuratively in this case , Naimul Karim and Christine finished their studies , eventually getting their Ph.D.s in chemistry in this little town called Kaiserslautern between Frankfurt and the border with France .
In 1985,Naimul Karim took a job as a product development engineer with 3M in the city of neuss close to Köln .Christine and Jawed joined him six months later . But not before Jawed had spent an entire summer in Dhaka ,Bangladesh with his grandparentsin Uttara.And during that summer , Jawed became a true Bangali .He loved it in Dhaka.In no time at all ,he became fluent in Bangla .And to make matters worse ,he completely forgot his native tounge ,German !
In a telephone conversation with his father's boyhood friend Mr.Tarique Mahmud , Jawed Karim could recall his early life in Bangladesh and told that he did not want to leave Bangladesh at all.They had to put him on the plane kicking and screaming ("Na,jabo na!Ami jabo na!")
"I was crying , I think ," said Jawed Karim one of the Youtube founder.


S : www.tariquemahmud.net; en.wikipedia.org ; ustoday.com(2006-10-11) ; founderbios.com/jawed-karim

Dr.F R Khan -Einstein of Structural Engineering



Legendary architect Dr. F R Khan

Fazlur Rahman Khan born-April 3, 1929 in Dhaka,Bangladesh was a Bangladeshi -American architect and structural engineer . He is a central figure behind the ''Second Chicago School'' of architecture,and is regarded as the "father of tubular design for high-rises''.Khan, "more than any other individual, ushered in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the twentieth century."He is also considered to be the''Einstein of structural engineering'' and "the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century" for his innovative use of structural systems that remain fundamental to modern skyscraper construction. His most famous buildings are the John Hancock Center and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), which was the world's tallest building for several decades.(the world’s tallest building from its completion in 1974 until 1996).

Fazlur Rahman Khan is from the village of Bhandarikandi in Shibchar Upazila,Madaripur District,Dhaka Division,Bangladesh. He was born on 3 April 1929, in Dhaka and died 27 March 1982 in Jeddah,Saudia Arabia at the age of only 52 year old. His father, Khan Bahadur Abdur Rahman Khan, BES was ADPI of Bengal and after retirement served as Principal of Jagannath College, Dhaka.
After completing undergraduate coursework at the Bengal Engineering College, University of Calcutta, Fazlur R. Khan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Dacca in 1951 while placing first in his class. A Fulbright Scholarship and a Pakistani Government Scholarship subsequently enabled him to travel to the United States in 1952 where he pursued advanced studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana. In three short years Khan earned two masters’ degrees — one in structural engineering and one in theoretical and applied mechanics — and a PhD in structural engineering.
In 1973 he was honored with the top accolade for an engineer in the United States, election to the National Academy of Engineering.
He was cited five times among "Men Who Served the Best Interests of the Construction Industry" by Engineering News-Record (for 1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, and 1979); and in 1972 he was named "Construction's Man of the Year." He was posthumously honored with the International Award of Merit in Structural Engineering from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering and a Distinguished Service Award from the AIA Chicago Chapter (both in 1982). In 1983 the American Institute of Architects recognized Fazlur Khan's contributions with an AIA Institute Honor for Distinguished Achievement.
 
That same year he was honored with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture "for the Structure of the Hajj Terminal, An Outstanding Contribution to Architecture for Muslims," which was completed over the last years of his life.
The Structural Engineers Association of Illinois recognized his achievements with the John Parmer Award in 1987. The SEAOI also commissioned a sculpture in Fazlur Khan’s honor by the Spanish artist Carlos Marinas. The sculpture is located in the lobby of the Sears Tower.In 1998 the city of  Chicago named the intersection of Jackson and Franklin Streets (located at the foot of the Sears Tower) "Fazlur R. Khan Way."
Dr. Fazlur Khan realized that the rigid steel frame structure that had "dominated tall building design and construction so long was not the only system fitting for tall buildings", marking "the beginning of a new era of skyscraper revolution in terms of multiple structural systems. Dr. F R Khan's design innovations significantly improved the construction of high-rise buildings, enabling them to withstand enormous forces generated on these super structures. These new designs opened an economic door for contractors, engineers, architects, and investors, providing vast amounts of real estate space on minimal plots of land.

Dr.Khan with his daughter Yasmin in 1970's

Khan invented a new way of building tall. So F R Khan created the unconventional skyscraper. Reversing the logic of the steel frame, he decided that the building's external envelope could – given enough trussing, framing and bracing – be the structure itself. This made buildings even lighter. The "bundled tube" meant buildings no longer need be boxlike in appearance: they could become sculpture. Khan's amazing insight – he was name-checked by Obama in his Cairo University speech last year – changed both the economics and the morphology of supertall buildings. And it made Burj Khalifa possible: proportionately, Burj employs perhaps half the steel that conservatively supports the Empire State Building. Burj Khalifa is the ultimate expression of his audacious, lightweight design philosophy.

The first sky lobby was also designed by Khan for the John Hancock Center. Later buildings with sky lobbies include the World Trade Center,Petronas Twin Towers and Taipei 101. The 44th-floor sky lobby of the John Hancock Center also features the first high-rise indoorswimming pool, which remains the highest in America.This was the first time that people could have the opportunity to work and live 'in the sky'.

Sears Tower Building

A Bangladesh Postal Stamp

Even though Dr.F R Khan became an American citizen and spent almost his entire career in the US, he remained a 'Bangali' at heart all his life. Outside of work, Khan enjoyed spending time with his family (wife Liselotte and daughter Yasmin). He enjoyed singing, poetry, and table tennis. He was also heavily involved with creating public opinion and garnering emergency funding for Bengali people during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. He created the Chicago-based organization known as Bangladesh Emergency Welfare Appeal.He also organized a strong lobby in Washington for months to urge the US authority to stop shipment of arms to the junta.

See also this video clip link - in memory on Dr. F R Khan .

S:www.fazlurrkhan.wordpress.com; en.wikipedia.org

Jute genome decoded by Bangladeshi scientist Maqsudul Alam



Jute plant




Scientist Maqsudul Alam

A consortium of researchers from Dhaka University, Bangladesh Jute Research Institute and Software Company Data Soft Systems Bangladesh Ltd. in collaboration with Centre for Chemical Biology, University of Science Malaysia and University of Hawaii, USA has successfully decoded the Jute Plant Draft Genome. This accomplishment by local scientists and bioinformatics specialists will potentially placed Bangladesh at the forefront of the global jute industry.
Officials and scientists said Bangladesh was the lone country in Asia after Malaysia to carry out such a high level research led by Maqsudul Alam, a professor of the University of Hawaii.
Scientist Maqsudul Alam earlier decoded the genome of papaya in the US and rubber plant in Malaysia, led from the forefront in sequencing the jute genome.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made the announcement of Bangladesh's scientific achievement in the parliament on wednesday 16th june 2010 amid cheers and desk thumping by lawmakers.
 Jute genome sequencing initiative began in February, 2008 when Maqsudul started exploring the possibilities with several Bangladeshi scientists and academics. The whole process was kicked off with many long conference calls between Maqsudul and plant molecular biologists, Prof Haseena Khan and Prof Zeba Seraj of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Dhaka University. Then the lead researcher had several meetings with Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury.
Genome sequence represents a valuable shortcut, helping scientists find genes much more easily and quickly. A genome sequence allows scientists identify and understand how genes work together for the plant's different features like growth, development and maintenance as an entire organism. This allows them to manipulate the genes and enhance, reduce or add certain features of the plant.
Jute is the second largest fibre crop in terms of cultivation next to cotton. Bangladesh is the world's second-largest producer of jute, after India, and the world's largest exporter of the fibre.

If cotton is ‘white gold’ for some countries, jute could be ‘fibre gold’ for Bangladesh in the near future. A high value and quality product is what ultimately matters. I believe this will realise a key objective of jute research by the Bangladesh Jute Research Institute - to develop improved varieties of jute with wider adaptability having high quality, finer and stronger fibre.

S:The Daily Star(17th June 2010) ;www.jutegenome.org ;www.sydneybashi-bangla.com-article by Abdul Quader and Facebook Group of scientist Maqsudul Alam - The discover of jute genome sequencing