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A. Rahman is the founder Director of National Institute for Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi. He was Planning Advisor for the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, and also member of many international academies on the history of science and science policy. Rahman enrolled for a PhD in bio-chemistry in Sheffield University, England, where he met George Sharton whose remarks on medieval Indian history made him shift his area of studies to history of science. While working on his own, he met J.D. Bernal and Joseph Needham, who later guided him in his studies. He has compiled the Biography of Source Material on Science in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian (1963). His other works include Anatomy of Science (1972), Triveni: Science, Democracy and Socialism (1977), Science and Technology in Medieval India (1982), Intellectual Colonization: Science and Technology in West-East Relations (1983), Philosophy of Science and its Application to Scientific and Technological Advantage in India (1985), and Science, Technology and Development (1995). He has recently contributed to the Italian Encyclopaedia on science and technology in medieval India using Arabic and Persian sources.