Year 2 - Issue 14 - A Legendary Man of Letter

A Legendary Man of Letter
An overview of Professor Fazlollah Reza's life and contributions to humanity
Edited by: Mei Shao

 

 


If one ever wonders how many things a person can achieve in a short life time, Professor Fazlollah Reza is a living manifest of the unlimited human potential one can reach with love, passion and a strong will. Born in the city of Rasht near the Caspian Sea in the North of Iran in 1914, Fazlollah Reza has led a manifold life of a scholar, educator and diplomat.

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.


As a scholar, Professor Fazlollah Reza
is internationally recognized for his contributions to the Theory of Electrical Circuits and Systems, Information Theory, Cybernetics and related Applied Mathematics. His scientific contributions, papers and books have received worldwide recognition and his three English books published in the USA were subsequently translated into several languages. His doctoral dissertation on "The Synthesis of Two-Terminal Networks", was described by the renowned American scientist Professor E. Weber, President of Polytechnic University of New York, as an "extraordinary contribution".

 

As an educator, Professor Fazlollah Reza has lectured at many major academic centres throughout the world, including Iran, USA, Canada and many countries in Europe. He has also published many scientific and literary works in Farsi, French and English. For most Iranians, his greatest achievement as an educator is probably what he did with Iranian scientific institution. During the years when he was Chancellor of Sharif University of Technology (Formerly Aryamehr University) and Tehran University, 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. He also implemented a rapid and innovative modernization program in the reorganization of academic departments, institutes, curricula and research. This reorientation provided a major impetus towards development of the Iranian scientific nucleus. All these contributions are still deeply felt in the heart of Iranian higher education system.

In
addition to his scientific career, Fazlollah Reza is a devoted lover for Persian literature, Sufism and philosophy. His books and articles on Persian literature have earned him a place of distinction in Persian literary circles.

 

Fazlollah Reza’s diplomatic career consists of two major posts he has held within the 60s and 70s: Iran's Ambassador at the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) from 1969 to 1974, and Ambassador of Iran to Canada, from 1974 until the end of 1978. During his mission at UNESCO, Fazlollah Reza has 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.

 

During the past four decades, Professor Fazlollah Reza has remained devotedly active in intellectual pursuit. He has taught in various universities and has participated, chaired and delivered addresses to many international scientific meetings, at academic centres, 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, the Scientific Section of the United States Air Force and the Iranian Government.

He currently lives in Ottawa Canada with his wife Mary Theresa Reza.

 
 



APPENDIXES:


HONOURS AND AWARDS

·          Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, 1962, for "outstanding contributions to Circuit Theory and Information Theory"

·         Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1975

·         New York Academy of Science (life member)

·         Honorary Professorship from the Polytechnic Institute of New York, 1975

·         Honorary Adjust Professor of the Faculty of Engineering of Carleton University in Ottawa, 1976

·         Honorary Professorship from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, 1978

·         Member of several scientific and Cultural societies, including the American Mathematical Society, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, and Sigma Xi

·         Member of the Board of Governors:
International Council for Computer Communications
Honoured by the Government of Pakistan (IQBAL) centennial medal
Honorary member of the Atomic Energy Centre of Iran
Honours and awards at several different occasions by the government of Iran


LISTED:
In Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who in the East, Dictionary of International Biography, and several other sources.

 

 

SCIENTIFIC PAPERS

Over 100 papers on Communication, System, and Circuit Theories and on Applied Mathematics published in International Scientific Journals:

·         Proceedings of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers

·         IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems

·         IEEE Spectrum

·         Proceedings of AlEE and IRE

·         Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers. U.K.

·         Archiv Fur Elektronik Und Ubertragungstechnik

·         Canadian Electrical Engineering Journal

·         The Journal of the Franklin Institute

·         MIT Quarterly Progress Report of Research Laboratory of Electronics

·         Proceedings of American Mathematical Society

·         Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

·         Journal of Mathematics and Physics

·         Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, SIAM Review

·         Zeitschrift fur Angewandte Mathematik und Physik

·         Journal of Applied Physics

·         Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris

·         Journal of Applied Mathematics, Ceskoslcvenska Akademie

·         Electronics Letters

·         Le Journal De Physique - Lettres



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS

·         LINEAR SPACES IN ENGINEERING
GINN - BLAISDELL CO. WAL'IHAM, MASS. 416 Pages 1971. (John Wiley, New York)

·         LINEAR SPACES IN ENGINEERING
Translated into Romanian, Romanian Academy of Science 1973

·         AN INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION THEORY
McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1961, 496 Pages

·         AN INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION THEORY
Translated into Hungarian, Hungarian Academy of Science, 583 Pages, 1966

·         MODERN NETWORK ANALYSIS
(With S. Seely), McGraw-Hill Book Cc., New York, 1958, 373 Pages

·         MODERN NETWORK ANALYSIS
Translated into Russian, 1964

·         STABILITY OF LINEAR DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS
Tehran University Press, Tehran, 1974, 140 Pages



CONTRIBUTED CHAPTERS

 

·         ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Academic Press, USA, 1987, Chapter on Circuit Theory, Vol. 2, pp. 797-819

·         SYSTEMS ENGINEERING HANDBOOK
McGraw-Hill Co., New York 1965, Chapter on Information Theory, Ch. 22, pp. 1-28

·         ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA
USA, 1971, Vol. 14, Information Theory, pp. 166-169

·         ASPECTS OF NETWORK AND SYSTEM THEORY
Edited by RE. Kalman and W. Declaris

·         Holt Rinehart and Winston
New York 1971, Chapter: "On Passivity, Reciprocity and Linear Operators", pp. 447, 467.



Books in Persian

·         Pure and Practical Geometry (هندسۀ علمی و عملی)

·         Secret of Creation (راز آفرینش)

·         Epic of the King, Wisdom and Humanism in Ferdowsi (نگاهی به شاهنامه)

·         Muhammad Iqbal (محمد اقبال)

·         Mahjuri va Mushtaghi, Cultural and Literary Articles  (مهجوری و مشتاقی)

·         An investigation into Ferdowsi's thoughts (پژوهشی در اندیشه‌های فردوسی )

·         Omar Khayyam, Reflections on his Scientific and Literary Contributions  (نگاهی به عمر خیام)

·         Winter Blossoms, Collections, Memories and Essays (برگ بی‌برگی)

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