20th century

• 1931 - 1942 [chemistry] Salimuzzaman Siddiqui was a leading Pakistani scientist in natural products chemistry. He is the pioneer in extracting chemical compunds from the Neem and Rauwolfia, and is also known for isolating novel chemical compunds from various other flora in the Indian subcontinent. As the director of H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, he carried out extensive research with a team of scientists on pharmacology of various plants to extract a number of chemical substances of medicinal importance.

• 1944 - 2000 [medicine, engineering] Iranian physician and engineer Toffy Musivand invents artificial cardiac pump as treatment for heart failure, and develops "remote power transfer for implantable medical devices, remote patient monitoring (telemedicine), biofluid dynamics to reduce/eliminate thrombosis in blood conducting devices, patient care simulation centre, detection devices and methods for detection, in situ sterilization, medical devices (failure analysis and regulatory process), and medical sensors."

• 1953 [economics] Pakistani developmental activist Akhtar Hameed Khan pioneers the concept of microcredit

• 1960 [physics] Iranian physicist Ali Javan invents the gas laser

• 1961 [astronautics, space exploration] Azerbaijani rocket scientist Kerim Kerimov becomes one of the founders of the Soviet space program and one of the lead architects responsible for the launch of the Vostok 1, the first human spaceflight.

• 1965 [mathematics; formal logic] Iranian mathematician Lotfi Asker Zadeh founded fuzzy set theory as an extension of the classical notion of set and he founded the field of Fuzzy Mathematics

• 1966 [astronautics, space exploration] Kerim Kerimov becomes the lead scientist of the Soviet space program.

• 1967 [astronautics, space exploration] Kerim Kerimov launches the Cosmos 186 and Cosmos 188, the first space docks (and precursors of space stations), during which mutual search, approach, mooring and docking were automatically performed for the first time in the history of space exploration.

• 1967 - 1972 [astronautics, space exploration] Farouk El-Baz from Egypt worked for NASA and was involved in the first Moon landings with the Apollo program, where he was secretary of the Landing Site Selection Committee, Principal Investigator of Visual Observations and Photography, chairman of the Astronaut Training Group, and assisted in the planning of scientific explorations of the Moon, including the selection of landing sites for the Apollo missions and the training of astronauts in lunar observations and photography.

• 1969 [engineering] Bangladeshi engineer Fazlur Khan, regarded as the "Einstein of structural engineering" and "the greatest architectural engineer of the second half of the 20th century" for his designs of structural systems that remain fundamental to all high-rise skyscrapers, designs and constructs the John Hancock Center.

• 1969 [chemistry, medicine] Iranian scientist Samuel Rahbar discovered glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1C), a form of hemoglobin used primarily to identify plasma glucose concentration over time. He was also the first to describe its increase in diabetes.

• 1971 [economics] Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, successfully applies the concept of microcredit to the first microfinance banking system.

• 1971 [astronautics, space exploration] Kerim Kerimov launches the first space station, the Salyut 1.

• 1972 - 1982 [astronautics, space exploration] Kerim Kerimov launches more space stations as part of the Salyut series.

• 1973 [engineering] Fazlur Khan designs and constructs the Sears Tower. Standing at 527.3 metres tall, it remains the world's tallest building up until the construction of the Burj Dubai in 2007.

• 1973 [mathematics, formal logic] Lotfi Zadeh founded the field of fuzzy logic.

• 1979 [physics] A Pakistani theoretical physicist, Abdus Salam, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work on the electroweak interaction theory which is the mathematical and conceptual synthesis of the electromagnetic and weak interactions

• 1980s [engineering, nuclear physics] Pakistan was the first Islamic country which successfully developed nuclear technology, under the leadership of Abdul Qadeer Khan

• 1985 [astronautics, space exploration] Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud becomes the first Muslim astronaut in space, as a Payload Specialist aboard the STS-51-G Space Shuttle Discovery, completed on June 24

• 1985 [astronautics, space exploration] Muhammed Faris is selected to participate in the Intercosmos spaceflight program on September 30 as the first Syrian in space

• 1986 [astronautics, space exploration] Kerim Kerimov launches the Mir, the first consistently inhabited long-term research space station and which holds the record for the longest continuous human presence in space.

• 1987 [astronautics, space exploration] Muhammed Faris becomes the first Syrian in space aboard the Soyuz TM-2 and Soyuz TM-3 expeditions to Mir space station. He is awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of Lenin titles later that year.

• 1988 [astronautics, space exploration] Abdul Ahad Mohmand becomes the first Afghan astronaut in space, aboard the Soyuz TM-5 expedition to Mir space station

• 1990 [economics] Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq co-develops the Human Development Index

• 1994 - 1998 [astronautics, space exploration] Talgat Musabayev becomes the first Kazakh astronaut in space, as a flight engineer aboard the Soyuz TM-19 (for over 125 days) and commander aboard the Soyuz TM-27 (for over 207 days) expeditions to Mir space station

• 1995 [computer science] Iranian American computer scientist Pierre Omidyar, becomes the founder of eBay

• 1997 [physics, string theory] Iranian physicist Cumrun Vafa, one of the leading string theorists of modern times, develops the F-theory and proposes the Vafa-Witten theorem

• 1998 [architecture, engineering] The world's tallest twin towers, the Petronas Twin Towers, is built in Malaysia

• 1999 [chemistry] Egyptian chemist Ahmed Zewail is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his advances in femtochemistry