Ālenush Teriān (; ; November 9, 1921 – March 4, 2011) was an Iranian-Armenian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and is called 'Mother of Modern Iranian Astronomy'.

Early life

She was born on November 9, 1921, to an

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

family in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran. Her father, ''Arto'', was a stage director, poet and translator (with the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

''Arizad'' meaning ''Born to Aryan'') who had translated

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

, from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

. Her mother, Varto Terian, was a stage actress and director.

Education

Teriān graduated in 1947 in the Science Department of

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (UT) or Tehran University (, ) is a public collegiate university in Iran, and the oldest and most prominent Iranian university located in Tehran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as ...

. She began her career in the physics laboratory of this university and was elected the chief of laboratory operations in the same year. She left Iran for France, by her father's financial support, where in 1956 she obtained her doctorate in

atmospheric physics Within the atmospheric sciences, atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, rad ...

from

Sorbonne University Sorbonne University () is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to the Middle Ages in 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon as a constituent college of the Unive ...

. Upon this she returned to Iran and became

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...

at University of Tehran. Later she worked in

solar physics Solar physics is the branch of astrophysics that specializes in the study of the Sun. It intersects with many disciplines of pure physics and astrophysics. Because the Sun is uniquely situated for close-range observing (other stars cannot be re ...

in the then

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

for a period of four months through a scholarship that was awarded by the German government to University of Tehran. In 1964 Teriān became the first female professor of physics in Iran. In 1966, Teriān became a member of the

Geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

Committee of the University of Tehran. In 1969 she was elected chief of the solar physics studies at this university and began to work in the solar observatory, of which she was one of the founders. Teriān retired in 1979. At the time of her death she was living in

. Teriān's 90th birthday celebration in Tehran was attended by a number of Iranian parliamentarians and over 100

Iranian Armenians Iranian Armenians (; ), also known as Persian Armenians (; ), are Iranians of Armenian ethnicity who may speak Armenian as their first language. Estimates of their number in Iran range from 70,000 to 500,000. Areas with a high concentration o ...

. Terian died on March 4, 2011, at the age of 90.Iran’s First Female Astronomer Alenoush Terian Passes Away
, ''The Armenian Weekly'' (March 5, 2011)

References

External links

Photographs of the 90th-year birthday ceremony of Professor Ālenush Teriān in Tehran

Mehr News Agency The Mehr News Agency (MNA; ) is a semi-official news agency sponsored by the government of Iran. It is headquartered in Tehran, and is owned by the Iranian government's Islamic Development Organization (IIDO). Mehr publishes all content on its we ...

, 9 November 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Terian, Alenush 1921 births 2011 deaths Armenian astronomers Iranian astronomers 20th-century Iranian scientists Armenian physicists Armenian academics Women astronomers Iranian people of Armenian descent Academic staff of the University of Tehran University of Paris alumni University of Tehran alumni Burials at Doulab Cemetery 20th-century Iranian physicists 20th-century Iranian women scientists 21st-century Iranian physicists 21st-century Iranian women scientists

Early life

Education

See also

References

External links