Tehran, March 09: Veteran Iranian researcher and historian Iraj Afshar has passed away at the age of 86 in the intensive care unit of Tehran’s Jam Hospital.
The renowned bibliographer and Iranologist, who was hospitalized after returning from his recent trip to the United States on March 3, 2011, passed away on Wednesday afternoon, ISNA reported.
The 86-year-old scholar was working on the second volume of his Iranian travelogue when he fell sick. The first volume of the travelogue was released with the title Jaunt to Motherland and was warmly received by readers.
Known as one of the most famous Iranian historians, Iraj Afshar was a consulting editor of Encyclopedia Iranica at Columbia University and an emeritus professor of the University of Tehran. He was also on the advisory council of the Iranian Studies Journal.
Afshar has written many books on Iran and its history including the three-volume Yazd Souvenirs which provide detailed information on the monuments of the ancient city in southern of Iran.
He is also known as the doyen of Persian language bibliographers who played a significant role in the development of Iranology throughout the world.
Afshar also worked as the editor of the Iranology journal Sokhan, as well as other publications such as Farhang-e Iranzamin and Ayandeh.
He was the chief bibliographer of Persian books at Harvard University, a professor at the University of Bern and one of the founding members of the Iranian Society of Philosophy and Human Sciences affiliated with UNESCO.
According to managing director of Iran’s Bokhara magazine Ali Dehbashi, Afshar’s latest notes will be published in the journal’s Nowruz edition under the title of Recent Iranology.
The University of Edinburgh in Scotland was going to present the veteran scholar with an honorary doctorate in September 2011.
—-Agencies