About thirty people attended what was touted as an international seminar in Tehran on a prominent Medieval Iranian scholar, leading the event organizer to lose his temper and threaten to call security on an inquisitive television reporter last week (video and translation at the end of this article).
None of the international guests responded to the invitation to attend the 2nd International Seminar on Khajeh Nassireddine Tousi, organizer Dr. Seyed Amireddine Sadrnejad admitted in a television news report. Sadrnejad also bemoaned the fact that Iranian officials did not turn up either. ‘Many of the honorable officials of our country were invited, but just a day before the ceremony, they called and said they were on vacation,’ he said.
The seminar was held at Tehran’s Khajeh Nassireddine Tousi University on Wednesday, February 24, which coincides with the birthday of the 13th-Century polymath and Engineers’ Day in Iran . Tousi, the author of over 100 scientific and philosophical works, made considerable contributions to astronomy, mathematics, biology, and physics. A 60-km lunar crater and a planet are named after him.
But the celebrated figure, and the beleaguered Dr. Sadrnejad, appear to have fallen victim to the Islamic Republic’s waning attractiveness for international — and local — scholars. The Islamic Republic News Agency did not, however, mention the embarrassing turnout and concentrated on Sadrnejad’s praise for official policies to educate… >>>
