Famous Physicists from Iran

List of notable or famous physicists from Iran, with bios and photos, including the top physicists born in Iran and even some popular physicists who immigrated to Iran. If you're trying to find out the names of famous Iranian physicists then this list is the perfect resource for you. These physicists are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known physicist from Iran is included when available.

A list made up of people like Cumrun Vafa and Ali Javan.

This historic physicists from Iran list can help answer the questions "Who are some Iranian physicists of note?" and "Who are the most famous physicists from Iran?" These prominent physicists of Iran may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected Iranian physicists.

Use this list of renowned Iranian physicists to discover some new physicists that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. {#nodes}

  • Al-Biruni
    Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domain
    Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī (Persian: ابوریحان محمد بن احمد البیرونی‎ Abū Rayḥān Bērōnī; New Persian: Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī) (973–after 1050), known as Biruni (Persian: بیرونی‎) or Al-Biruni (Arabic: البيروني‎) in English language, was an Iranian scholar and polymath. He was from Khwarazm – a region which encompasses modern-day western Uzbekistan, and northern Turkmenistan. Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He studied almost all fields of science and was compensated for his research and strenuous work. Royalty and powerful members of society sought out Al-Biruni to conduct research and study to uncover certain findings. He lived during the Islamic Golden Age, in which scholarly thought went hand in hand with the thinking and methodology of the Islamic religion. In addition to this type of influence, Al-Biruni was also influenced by other nations, such as the Greeks, who he took inspiration from when he turned to studies of philosophy. He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent much of his life in Ghazni, then capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty, in modern-day central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he travelled to South Asia and authored a study of Indian culture (Tahqiq ma li-l-hind...) after exploring the Hinduism practised in India. He was given the title "founder of Indology". He was an impartial writer on customs and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India.
    • Age: Dec. at 75 (973-1048)
    • Birthplace: Khwarezm
  • Alenush Terian

    Ālenush Teriān (Armenian: Ալենուշ Տէրեան; Persian: آلنوش طریان; also: آلنوش تریان‎; November 9, 1921 – March 4, 2011), was an Iranian-Armenian astronomer and physicist and is called 'Mother of Modern Iranian Astronomy'.
    • Age: Dec. at 90 (1920-2011)
    • Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
  • Ali Javan
    Photo: user uploaded image
    Ali Javan (Persian: علی جوان‎, romanized: Ali Javān; December 26, 1926 – September 12, 2016) was an Iranian-American physicist and inventor. He was the first to propose the concept of the gas laser in 1959 at the Bell Telephone Laboratories. A successful prototype, constructed by him in collaboration with W. R. Bennett, Jr., and D. R. Herriott was demonstrated in 1960. His other contributions to science have been in the fields of quantum physics and spectroscopy.
    • Age: 96
    • Birthplace: Tehran, Iran
  • Ardeshir Hosseinpour (Persian: اردشير حسين پور‎, 1962 – 15 January 2007) was an Iranian nuclear scientist, physics professor, and electromagnetism expert who was involved in the Iranian nuclear program. He died mysteriously in early 2007 during his nuclear work at Isfahan.
    • Age: Dec. at 45 (1962-2007)
    • Birthplace: Bristol, United Kingdom
  • Ibn Sina (Persian: ابن سینا‎), also known as Abu Ali Sina (ابوعلی سینا), Pur Sina (پورسینا), and often known in the west as Avicenna (; c. 980 – June 1037) was a Persian Muslim polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age, and the father of modern medicine. Avicenna is also called "the most influential philosopher of the pre-modern era". Of the 450 works he is believed to have written, around 240 have survived, including 150 on philosophy and 40 on medicine.His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a philosophical and scientific encyclopedia, and The Canon of Medicine, a medical encyclopedia which became a standard medical text at many medieval universities and remained in use as late as 1650. In 1973, Avicenna's Canon Of Medicine was reprinted in New York.Besides philosophy and medicine, Avicenna's corpus includes writings on astronomy, alchemy, geography and geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics and works of poetry.
    • Age: Dec. at 56 (980-1037)
    • Birthplace: Bukhara, Uzbekistan
  • Cumrun Vafa
    Photo: Metaweb (FB) / Public domain
    Cumrun Vafa (Persian: کامران وفا‎ [kɒːmˈrɒːn væˈfɒː]; born 1960) is an Iranian-American string theorist from Harvard University, which he first joined as a Harvard Junior Fellow. He is the recipient of the 2008 Dirac Medal and the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
    • Age: 63
    • Birthplace: Tehran, Iran