TEHRAN – Professor Fazlollah Reza died at the age of 104 in Ottawa, Canada.

He was a renowned Iranian scientist and former ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday expressed his condolences over the death of Professor Reza. In a message, Zarif wrote that Professor Reza was among the distinguished Iranian characters, adding that his demise is a blow to Iran and the scientific community.

Fazlollah Reza was born in the city of Rasht. His formal education includes several baccalaureates and university degrees from Iran, a Master of Science degree in Electronics from Columbia University in 1946, and a Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of New York in 1948-1950.

Reza devoted his professional life to scientific research and teaching. He has taught, conducted research and contributed to the advancement of science for more than four decades in leading scientific centers of Iran, the United States, Europe, and Canada.

He is internationally recognized for his contributions to the Theory of Electrical Circuits and Systems, Information Theory, Cybernetics and related Applied Mathematics.

He has lectured at many major academic centers throughout the world and published many scientific and literary works in Farsi, French and English. His scientific contributions, papers and books have received international recognition.

In addition to his scientific career, Fazlollah Reza was a devoted scholar of Persian literature and philosophy. His books and articles on Persian literature (four [4] volumes and over seventy [70] published articles and discourses) have earned him a place of distinction in Persian literary circles.

Reza has taught at Tehran University (1940-1944) at the beginning of his career, and years later was Chancellor of two major Iranian Universities: Sharif University of Technology and Tehran University.

Upon his appointment to these positions, and after twenty years of academic contribution in the United States, he succeeded in attracting over one hundred and fifty Iranian scientists and scholars to Tehran, who contributed immensely to the new university orientation and to the academic foundations of science and technology in Iran.

International affairs

During the years 1969 to 1979, he assumed diplomatic duties on behalf of his native land. He served as Iran's Ambassador in Paris at the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), a mission which he headed for five years from 1969 to 1974. Subsequently he was designated Ambassador of Iran to Canada, a position he held from 1974 until the end of 1978.

During his mission at UNESCO Fazlollah Reza advocated an increased participation of scientists in global concerns, in order to enhance the international dialogue between nations by the implementation of scientific concepts, methods and the transfer of technology.

He has participated, chaired and delivered addresses to many international scientific meetings, at academic centers, as well as in UNESCO and UN conferences. He has served at times as a consultant to various government and private organizations including IBM, General Electric, and the Iranian Government.

MH/MG