Dar ol-Fonoon
Encyclopedia
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
Introduction
Founded by Amir KabirAmir Kabir
Amir Kabir , also known as Mirza Taghi Khan Amir-Nezam , also known by the titles of Atabak and Amir-e Nezam; chief minister to Naser al-Din Shah Qajar for the first three years of his reign and one of the most capable and innovative figures to appear in the whole Qajar period...
, then the royal vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
to Nasereddin Shah, the Shah
Shah
Shāh is the title of the ruler of certain Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries, especially Persia , and derives from the Persian word shah, meaning "king".-History:...
of Iran, Dar al-Funun originally was conceived as a polytechnic
Institute of technology
Institute of technology is a designation employed in a wide range of learning institutions awarding different types of degrees and operating often at variable levels of the educational system...
to train upper-class Persian youth in Medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, Engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, Military Science
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
, and Geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. It was similar in scope and purpose to American land grant colleges like Purdue
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
and Texas A&M
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
. Like them, it developed and expanded its mission over the next hundred years, eventually becoming the University of Tehran
University of Tehran
The University of Tehran , also known as Tehran University and UT, is Iran's oldest university. Located in Tehran, the university is among the most prestigious in the country, and is consistently selected as the first choice of many applicants in the annual nationwide entrance exam for top Iranian...
.
The institute was planned by the British educated Mirza Reza Mohandes, and built by the architect Muhammad Taqi-khan Memar-Bashi under the supervision of the Qajar
Qajar dynasty
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal family of Turkic descent who ruled Persia from 1785 to 1925....
i prince Bahram Mirza. Facilities such as an assembly hall, a theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute.
Many parts of the institute were later on absorbed and merged into the newly establishing Tehran University. The Faculty of Medicine for example, was particularly the successor to the Dar ul-Funun Department of Medicine, established in 1851, which had become the School of Medicine (Madreseh-ye tebb) in 1919.
The elite school was training 287 students by 1889, and had graduated 1100 students by 1891. During this time, the faculty consisted of 16 Iranian, and 26 European professors.
Dar ol-Fonoon's notable alumni
- Āghā Mohammad Khān Qājār Qvānlou, aka Mohammad Mirzā Kāshef-os-Saltaneh and Chaikār, the first Mayor of Tehran, Iran's Ambassador to India under the British rule, and the person who secretly imported tea plants to Iran and cultivated tea in Iran on large scale (see LahijanLahijanLahijan is a city in and the capital of Lahijan County, Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 71,871, in 21,518 families....
) - Ahmadreza AhmadiAhmadreza AhmadiAhmadreza Ahmadi is an Iranian poet and screenwriter.The history of Persian modern poetry calls him as the founder of New Wave Poetry in Iran....
, poet and screen writer. - Ali AminiAli AminiAli Amini was an Iranian politician and writer who was the Prime Minister of Iran from May 6, 1961 to July 19, 1962.-Early life:...
, former Prime Minister. - Ali-Akbar Dāvar, former Minister of Justice and holder of other Cabinet posts.
- Ali-Akbar Deh'khodā, author, linguist, social reformer, Member of Iran's Parliament, MajlesMajlis of IranThe National Consultative Assembly of Iran , also called The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran...
- Bahram BayzaiBahram BayzaiBahrām Beyzāi is an Iranian film director, theatre director, screenwriter, playwright, film editor, producer, and researcher....
, writer, scholar, film director, theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and film producer. - Dariush Ashoori, author, translator, researcher.
- Ebrahim HakimiEbrahim HakimiEbrahim Hakimi was a Prime Minister of Iran.He was born in Tabriz to an ethnic Iranian Azeri family. He attended Dar ol-Fonoon, and finished advanced studies in Medicine in Paris....
, former Deputy, Cabinet Minister and Prime Minister. - Ehsan NaraghiEhsan NaraghiEhsān Narāghi, PhD is an Iranian sociologist and writer.-Biography:During his high school he went to Dar ol-Fonoon in Tehran. Then he studied sociology in the University of Geneva and received his Ph.D at Sorbonne University in Paris....
, sociologist and writer. - Faramarz PayvarFaramarz PayvarMaster Farāmarz Pāyvar was an Iranian composer and santur player. Payvar died on December 9, 2009 after a long struggle with brain damage.-Works:...
, composer and Santour player. - Fereydoon MoshiriFereydoon MoshiriFereydoon Moshiri was one of the prominent contemporary Persian poets who versified in both modern and classic styles of the Persian poem. He is best known as conciliator of classical Persian poetry at one side with the New Poetry initiated by Nima Yushij at the other side...
, poet. - Gholam-Hossein Darvish, aka Darvish Khan, musician.
- Hossein Gol-e-GolabHossein Gol-e-GolabHossein Gol-e-Golab Hossein Gol-e-Golab Hossein Gol-e-Golab (Persian حسین گل گلاب also given as Hosayn Golgolab, (1895 - March 12, 1984) was a polymath Iranian scholar and musician who wrote the nationalist anthem Ey Iran....
, scholar and musician. - Jalal Al-e Ahmad, author and social critic.
- Kamal ol-Molk, painter
- Manouchehr EqbalManouchehr EghbalDr. Manuchehr Eqbal was a Prime Minister of Iran. He was born October 14, 1909, in Mashhad,Iran.-Family:...
, former Prime Minister. - Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl-i-GulpáygáníMírzá Abu'l-Fadl' , or ' was the foremost Bahá'í scholar who helped spread the Bahá'í Faith in Egypt, Turkmenistan, and the United States. He is one of the few Apostles of Bahá'u'lláh who never actually met Bahá'u'lláh...
, scholar. - Mohamad Ali Ebn Mohamad Bagher, AKA Mohamad Ali Mobasher Divan, Pen name: Ghobar Kashani, Iranian poet, Doctor, Homeopathic scholar,
- Mirza Jahangir Khan (aka Mirza Jahangir Khan Shirazi and Mirza Jahangir Khan Sur-e Esrafil), founder and Editor of the Sur-e Esrafil newspaper.
- Mohammad-Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-MolkMohammad Ali ForoughiMohammad Ali Foroughi Zoka-ol-Molk was a teacher, diplomat, writer, politician and Prime Minister of Iran. He was born to a family from Isfahan and studied at the élite Dar ul-Funun in Tehran. In 1907 he became the dean of the College of Political Sciences.In 1909 Foroughi entered politics as a...
, former Prime Minister and Ambassador. - Mohammad MoinMohammad MoinMohammad Moin was a prominent Iranian scholar of Persian literature and Iranian Studies....
, scholar of Persian literature and Iranology. - Mohammad-Ali SepanlouMohammad-Ali SepanlouMohammad Ali Sepanlou is an Iranian poet and literary critic. He has been a co-founder, a member of the executive board, and editor of the journal of the Writers Association of Iran, in which capacity has opposed both the former regime of Shah Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi and the government of the...
, writer. - Mohsen HashtroodiMohsen HashtroodiMohsen Hashtroodi was an Iranian mathematician. His father, Shaikh Esmāeel Mojtahed was an advisor to Shaikh Mohammad Khiābāni who played a significant role in the establishment of the parliamentary democracy in Iran during and after the Iranian Constitutional Revolution.Mohsen Hashtroodi...
, mathematician. - Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, former Governor of Central Bank of Iran and Ambassador.
- Sadeq Hedayat, writer.
- Mohammad vali Gharani, General.
See also
- Higher education in IranHigher education in IranIran has a large network of private, public, and state affiliated universities offering degrees in higher education. State-run universities of Iran are under the direct supervision of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and Ministry of Health and Medical Education .-Pre-Islamic...
- Alborz highschool
- Academy of GundishapurAcademy of GundishapurThe Academy of Gondishapur , also Jondishapur , was a renowned academy of learning in the city of Gundeshapur during late antiquity, the intellectual center of the Sassanid empire. It offered training in medicine, philosophy, theology and science. The faculty were versed in the Zoroastrian and...
- NizamiyyahNizamiyyahThe Nezamiyehs , are a group of the medieval institutions of higher education established by Khwaja Nizam al-Mulk in the eleventh century in Iran. The name nizamiyyah derives from his name...
- List of universities in Iran
- List of Iranian scientists from the pre-modern era.
- Modern Iranian scientists and engineers
- List of Iranian Research Centers
- School of NisibisSchool of NisibisThe School of Nisibis , for a time absorbed into the School of Edessa, was an educational establishment in Nisibis, modern-day Turkey. It was an important spiritual center of the early Syriac Orthodox Church, and like Gundeshapur, is sometimes referred to as the world's first university. The...
- SarouyehSarouyehSarouyeh was a large library in ancient pre-Islamic Iran. The 10th century chronicler Ahmad ibn Rustah refers to it as "Sarough" . The Fars Nameh of Ibn Balkhi calls it Haft Halkeh ....