Bangladesh Academy of Sciences

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Home Fellowship List of Fellows Dr. Rita Colwell
Dr. Rita Colwell
Dr. Rita Colwell

Contact Info

Dr. Rita Colwell

Biography

During 1950s at Purdu University, Rita studied bacteriology and got a Fellowship for the course in genetics which ultimately led her to be a molecular biologist. She obtained her Doctorate from the Univesity of Washington where she was appointed a research Assistant Professo
She discovered that cholera bacterium exists in a dormant stage in most of the world's water which proved to be a benchmark in the control of the disease. She showed that cholera bacterium exists in the environment, on plankton and in a dormant stage between epidemics, when the plankton populations bloom in the spring and again in the fall in countries like Bangladesh, the bacterial number increases and drinking of such water causes the disease. Dr. Rita Colwell proposed a simple techniqne to filter the water for drinking through a layer of sari cloth to remove the copepode or the zooplankton since sophisticated water filters are too expensive for common people in Bangladesh.
Dr. Rita Colwell also emphasizes the need of scientific research in the fields of Atmospherics, Physics, Astronomy and the related science under the auspices of National Foundation of Science, U.S.A. She also supports the research work in Computer Science and information technology to be patronized by the National Science Foundation. She also considers research on developing human embryo to unravel the wonderful information about life.
Dr. Rita Colwell is married to Dr. Jack Colwell, a Physicist of repute. They have two daughters both of them are also scientists.
Rita studied bacteriology and got a Fellowship for the course in genetics which ultimately led her to be a molecular biologist.

Academy

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Foreign Fellow
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