Persians...Persian culture...Who are they? (1)
Automobile Technology & Industry
Automobile Technology & Industry
Brief History | Automobile Manufacturing Companies | Iranian Cars
Since the Islamic revolution Iran did not have any significant improvement in automobile production. They kept producing the same cars and some new European cars such as Peugeot & Kia until a few years ago when car manufacturing companies started designing new cars.
Brief History
The first car imported into Iran was a Ford that Mozaffaredin Shah, the king of Qajar, had purchased from Belgium. This car which puffed much smoke was renowned as "smoky chariot". Following urbanization process since 1920, the importing trend of cars increased. Most automobiles of that time were brought from the USA and England. The first car manufactured in Iran was called "Paykan". It was produced in "Iran National Industrial Corporation" licensed by British Talbot Company and offered to market in 1967. Later on, Iran National Company, on a gradual basis, assumed the manufacture of other vehicles like pick up, minibus and passenger bus. In the same year, two models of American "Rambler" cars locally called "Aria" and "Shahin" were produced by Pars Khodro, however, one year later, in 1968, a model of French Citroen named "Dyane" was offered by SAIPA company to the national market.
In 1972, Pars Khodro transformed into "Iran General Motors" and started manufacturing two models of Chevrolet (Opel) 2500 cc and 2800 cc as well as three other cars licensed by American General Motors, namely; "Buick", "Cadillac" and "Chevrolet Nova". The production of these cars continued until 1981. In SAIPA Company the production of "Citroen Dyane" stopped in 1980, however, the manufacturing of "Renault 5" that had already been launched in 1975 went ahead. Later the production of innovative cars such as "Pride", "Peugeot 405 and 206", "Nissan Patrol" and "Mazda 323" started and some has continued till today.
Automobile Manufacturing Companies
Iran Khodro Is the national Iranian car manufacturer and besides continuing to make the trucks, buses and the national car "Peykan", they are now producing a new Paykan which the first car that is completely designed and manufactured in Iran and uses Iranian parts. Also they've been producing "Peugeot 405" for over ten years and now most parts are being produced in Iran. They have a version of Peugeot 405 called "Peugeot Persia" which is redesigned and produced in Iran. More than a year ago the Iran Khodro started the production of the new "Peugeot 206" in Iran which is one of the most popular cars in Iran.
SAIPA For the past 30 years, SAIPA has been working hard to give a significant boost to its ability in manufacturing of high quality passenger cars and pick-ups. The consequent achievement can be traced from the original assembly of the two-cylinder Citroen mini passenger car “Dyian” to the manufacturing of “Renault 5” and “Renault 21” and presently the production of small passenger cars, “Nasim” and “Saba” which are 4-door and 5-door cars respectively, and the 2-ton load capacity pick-ups called “SAIPA 24” for the local and export markets. Today SAIPA is the Iranian company with more new models than any other company.
Pars Khodro Pars Khodro which has become a subsidiary of SAIPA is the leading manufacturer of SUVs in Iran. The most common SUV is Nissan Patrol which was manufactured using Japanese parts but is now being produced completely in Iran.
Cars
Today there is a very large number of cars produced in Iran. Here you can find detailed information on some.
Samand (New Paykan)
Caravan
Xantia
Peugeot Persia
Peugeot 206
Peugeot 405
Daewoo Matiz
Nissan Patrol
SAIPA 141
Saba
Nasim
Nasim Safari
Chorus Minibus
c457 Bus
Skyliner Bus
SAIPA Minibus
A prototype by Iran Khodro
Full Information:
http://www.farhangsara.com/automobiletech.htm
Airport Technology
An overview of the new Airport.
A new airport opened in Tehran, Iran, in February 2001. It is equipped with advanced aviation technology and is estimated to have cost almost $1 billion. Associated investment projects, carried out by either private or public enterprises, include aircraft hangars, in-flight catering, hotel, duty-free shops, fuel supply and passenger and cargo handling facilities.
MARKET RATIONALE
This new airport will take over all domestic and international flights from the Mehrabad Airport (Tehran's other international airport). Studies carried out by the Civil Aviation Organization (CAO) of Iran recognized that the present airport could not be upgraded and expanded to meet the expected growth levels.
Airport is located in a 15 hectare area located some 30km to the south of Tehran on the Tehran-Qom highway. Work on the project began before the Islamic Revolution during the 1970s but was halted due to political circumstances. Overall responsibility for the project rests with the ministry for roads and transportation.
The new Airport has spectacular architecture.
PROJECT TIMESCALE AND SIZE
Work on the airport started in 1994 and is due to progress in various phases. The first phase, completed by February 2001, initially gives a capacity of 12 million passengers and 200,000t of cargo a year. Depending on demand, the design allows for further expansion to 20 million passengers and 375,000t of cargo, with a final phase scheduled capacity of 40 million passengers and 700,000t of cargo.
RUNWAY
Phase 1 included construction of a single runway of 4,200m by 45m, with 10.5m-wide shoulders. A total of 12.8km of taxiway area connects runways with passenger and cargo terminals, hangars and a 30m-wide engine test pad. The apron area is more than 450,000m˛ wide to accommodate a total of 24 aircraft.
CONTROL TOWER
The 56.9m-high control tower has an area of 1,100m˛. The four-storey, glass-fronted technical block spans 6,800m˛. Navigation aids include the 755 DVOR (Doppler, very-high frequency, omni-directional radio range) supplied by the UK company Fernau, the 2020 DME (distance measuring equipment) and the Normarc ILS NM 7000 instrument landing system, providing the airport with CAT III approach and landing capability.
The airport has a mixture of glass and steel in its materials.
TERMINAL BUILDING
The passenger terminal building of 78,357m˛ is a three-level structure comprising a basement, departure and arrival halls at ground level, as well as a mezzanine arrivals floor. 14 air bridges link the aircraft, piers and gate lounges. 1,800 car parking spaces in a two-storey car park can be reached via footbridges. Two-level access roads separate arrivals and departures. Supporting structures include administration, services, maintenance, airport police and security guard buildings, and nearly 100 residential buildings on a 10,000m˛ complex.
UTILITIES
The remote location has placed considerable demands on the supply of utilities. A branch line was laid from the main gas trunk line to the east of the Qum highway, while wells were drilled for water supply. This is only sufficient for a few years of operations and the eventual aim is to transfer and treat water from Tehran's reservoirs. Tehran refinery is establishing a fuel supply through a new 250mm-diameter pipeline, 33km long. Distribution of utilities around the airport will be facilitated via a 2,850m concrete tunnel. Telecommunications contracts have been awarded and work is in progress to link the new airport to Mehrabad with around 400 communication lines, increasing to 2,000 lines in the future.
LEAD CONTRACTORS
Aeroports de Paris (ADP) was responsible for the master plan and preliminary design, and is undertaking supervision of procurement, installation, commissioning and testing of airport equipment and systems, as well as co-ordination and integration. The main contractors are two Iranian companies, Dey and Melli Sakhteman. Fernau (UK) is one of the international contractors working on for the project.
Full Information:
Fhttp://www.farhangsara.com/airport.htm
Universities
Iran's Universities
Amir Kabir
Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences - Zanjan
Institute for Studies in Theoretical Physics & Mathematics (IPM)
Iran University of Science & Technology
Iran University of Medical Sciences
Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology
Isfahan University of Technology
Azad University
Khajeh Nasir Toosi Univ. of Technology
National BioInformatics Network
Shahid Beheshti Univ.
Sharif Univ. of Technology
Shiraz Univ. of Medical Sciences
Tarbiat Modarres University (Teachers' college)
University of Tehran
UofT - Faculty of Electrical & Computer Eng.
UofT - Faculty of Science
Yazd Univ.
Full Information:
http://www.farhangsara.com/university.htm
Inventions & Explorations by Iranians
Gas Laser
We hear about DVD, CD, Laser eye surgery, etc. or use them everyday and without a doubt Laser has been one of the greatest scientific inventions. But did you ever wonder who invented this great technology? Did you know an Iranian invented laser? The first type of laser was Gas Laser (which is being widely used in medical systems & industry) and it was invented by Ali Javan an Iranian physicist in MIT. Let us learn more about this invention from his own words, parts of his interview with Betty Blair. For more information read his biography.
The Laser and World War II | The Helium - Neon Gas Laser | The First Laser Telephone Experiment
The Laser - A Possibility in the 1930s
In the scientific world, they always say that when the time comes for an invention or a discovery to be made, if you don't do it, someone else will. To a large extent, that's true. But it's not always the case. People can miss a good idea.
When it comes to the laser-my kind of laser, the Gas Laser-I'm convinced it could have been invented in the 1930s, not thirty years later in 1960 when I managed to do it.
If you look back into the history of science, you find physicists-mostly in Europe-who had come very close to the idea of lasers by 1937 and 1938. Scientists back then were studying how atoms emit light waves and they came very close to the laser idea (light amplification in gases by stimulated emission of radiation). From the literature you can see that they were just about to grasp the idea but then they moved away from it, and the idea faded. Had I been around in the 1930s, I'm sure I would have invented the laser then. I'm not exaggerating. I know I would have done it.
I know why these scientists missed it. They were deeply preoccupied with the properties of matter in thermal equilibrium. In lasers, however, atoms have to be in a non-thermal equilibrium state. But that becomes a bit too involved for our discussion here. Of course, these early scientists are all gone now. But, admittedly, they were pioneers in the field.
The Laser and World War II
We can only speculate how the laser might have been used in World War II had such technology existed. Laser radar, not microwave radar, might have been the "name of the game." Today the laser has many significant uses in defense. Back then, it's difficult to say what would have happened, as the technology certainly would not have been as advanced as it is today. Without a doubt, had the laser been invented 65 years ago instead of only 35, many laser applications would have been developed a lot sooner.
Science always develops on the strength of work done in the past. When Newton discovered gravity, he admitted that he had "stood on the shoulders of giants and that's how he had seen farther." Nothing ever develops on its own, isolated from the past. There's always a foundation for our knowledge that others have laid and that we build upon.
The laser is a product of our knowing the nature of atoms to perfection, specifically their wave nature. Atoms are waves and their particle nature is the property of their own waves. We have discovered the nature of atoms, what they are, by the light they emit. In the 1920s, the science of the wave nature of atoms was known down to the smallest detail. Books had already been written on the subject. There were giants at that time who had made these early discoveries-Neils Bohr, Schrodinger, Einstein-I could go on naming others.
It's difficult to pinpoint the moment when a creative idea is born. Oh, I suppose there's a beginning somewhere along the line. But who knows? At some moment you know everything about your invention even though you're not aware that you do. And then suddenly it all fits together and the discovery is made.
When I came up with the idea for the gas laser, much of it, if not all, was based on my intense involvement in the work I was doing. But I knew I could make the laser work; otherwise, I wouldn't have gone after it.
From the very beginning people who knew of my idea were very skeptical. Even people on my own team who were working on it with me had hesitations and doubts. Over the years I've seen this tendency in a lot of people. Even good physicists are sometimes insecure in their own beliefs; they waver with uncertainty.
Once when working with one of my students on a new kind of laser, we were ready for the final test and I jokingly said, "Hey, what if we throw the switch and nothing happens!" Suddenly his face turned white in panic. I laughed. "No, no, no. It will work!" I said, trying to reassure him. And then we flipped the switch and everything turned out right. But this often happens with people who are deeply involved in what they do. They're insecure and afraid even when they have no reason to be.
Of course, sometimes there are experiments of the magnitude that we've been talking about, where uncertainties do exist simply because the scientific basis is not known. As a scientist, you have to push ahead and test your ideas even if you don't know exactly what the ultimate outcome will be. But you had better be certain that the outcome still leads to important scientific results.
But with something like this-the gas laser-the only thing that mattered was to make it work. Based on my theoretical predictions, I had to be absolutely certain that the project would succeed before engaging a team in the engineering development phase.
At that time, I had just joined the research staff at the Bell Telephone Laboratory (Murray Hill, New Jersey) and had managed to convince them to give me "an open ticket" to do whatever was necessary to test the gas laser idea.
At about the same time, two other physicists, Charles H. Townes and Arthur L. Schawlow, had proposed a different approach to lasers. Theirs was based on the principle of what is now known as "Optically Pumped Lasers," which extracts laser light from atoms by pumping them with an intense light source.
Mine was an entirely different approach. I used electric currents (not an intense light source) to convert electrical energy into the laser light output, a process now known as the "Gas Laser". These two inventions-the "Optically Pumped Laser" and the "Gas Laser" are really very different from each other and are used for entirely different purposes.
The "Optically Pumped Laser" creates pulsating bursts of laser light but my "Gas Laser" produces a continuous light beam which is so pure in color that it reaches the limits that nature permits. It was Theodore Maiman, a physicist at Hughes Aircraft Laboratory in Malibu, California, who first succeeded with the Townes and Schawlow laser. Maiman used a synthetic Ruby crystal and a flash lamp to achieve the optical pumping. His "Optically Pumped Laser" preceded my "Gas Laser" by about six months.
Sketch depicting the principles of Dr. Ali Javan's Gas Laser. "Smithsonian" Magazine, April 1971.
The Helium - Neon Gas Laser
For highly technical reasons when I first tested my laser idea, I selected two inert gases, Helium and Neon. Here's how it works. Inside the laser apparatus, two electrodes send electric current flowing through the gas, then a sequence of events takes place in the gas mixture. The electrical energy is first stored as an internal energy in an energetic state of Helium atoms, then transferred to the Neon atoms and then converted into a laser light beam. It took me two years and two million dollars of Bell Telephone's money to transform that idea into a practical invention.
Incidentally, the extraction of the laser light from the laser apparatus is done by placing two highly reflecting and parallel mirrors at both ends of the laser apparatus. The light, which is reflected back and forth between the two mirrors, increases exponentially at the speed of light and builds up in intensity, resulting in the laser light output from the laser apparatus.
I published my idea for the laser in "Physical Review Letters" in June 1959 at a time when I was already deeply involved with the project. I had already assembled a team and designed experiments to measure a set of operating parameters in the gas mixture. An important milestone took place in February and March of 1960 when our team succeeded in demonstrating the amplification of light at the exact light wavelengths that I had predicted in my 1959 publication. But it would take a few more months to assemble a working laser apparatus that could extract the laser light from the atoms. It turns out that I had calculated the progress of our work so carefully that I was able to forecast when we would succeed in producing the laser light. I predicted the middle of December. I wanted to succeed before Christmas.
Ali Javan, William Bennett, and Donald Herriott adjust the
helium neon laser, the first laser to generate a continuous
beam of light at 1.15 microns and the first of many electrical
discharge pumped gas lasers.
And that's when it happened-right on schedule-December 12, 1960. It was the first time in the history of science that a continuous laser light beam had emanated from a gas laser apparatus. I remembering looking at my watch. It was 4:20 pm. It had been snowing heavily that day.
How do I know it was 4:20 pm? Well, it was a such momentous occasion and I realized the impact that moment would have upon the future of science and technology.
Today, telecommunications are among the foremost uses of the continuous laser light beam.
The First Laser Telephone Experiment
We knew that lasers could be used in telecommunications back when we produced the first gas laser beam. In fact, we tried it out the very next day. I was living in Greenwich Village, New York City at the time, and driving back and forth to my lab at Bell in New Jersey, about an hour's commute. The day we succeeded in creating the Gas Laser beam I stayed late at the Lab driving home in the wee hours of the morning. That was usual for me. The next day when I awoke around noon, I put in a call to the lab. One of the team members answered and asked me to hold the line for a moment. Then I heard a voice, somewhat quivering in transmission, telling me that it was the laser light speaking to me. It was the voice of Mr. Balik, now Professor at McAlaster University in Canada. We were ecstatic-all of us. It was the first time in history that a telephone conversation had been transmitted by a laser beam. The date was December 13, 1960.
It turns out that members of my team together with Bell engineers had jury-rigged what was needed to transpose the voice onto the laser light, transmit the light beam across my lab to the far end of the room to a light detector and then hook the voice signal into the telephone system. Now, 35 years later, laser telecommunication via fiber optics is commonplace because of its superiority in transmitting high data rates, tens of thousands of times higher than the data rate transmission by microwave which was the technology in use back then. Laser communication is still expanding and is the key technology used in today's "information super highway"-the Internet.
In academics, particularly the sciences, there's a tradition of first announcing significant breakthroughs in scientific journals before releasing the news to the media. By Christmas, I had written what is now considered an historical letter for the "Physical Review Letter" (January 30, 1961) reporting our success. The letter was co-authored with two key members of the team, William Bennett and Don Herriott.
The day after the letter was published, a News Conference was held at the Park Plaza Hotel in New York City. Bell Lab engineers had set up the same voice transmission system on the Helium-Neon Laser beam for the reporters to see and play around with. It made the news the next morning. AT&T shares on the stock market shot up. Back then Bell Lab provided the research arm of AT&T. The $2 million costs of the laser project was essential paid for by the nickels (5 cents) and dimes (10 cents) generated from telephone calls. The invention of the gas laser has turned out to be an incredibly far-reaching and worthwhile investment.
AT&T along with the rest of telecommunication industry is no longer involved with research. Today, universities are doing that job. Hundreds of gas lasers have been made to operate at thousands of different colors in the spectrum, both in the visible (red, green and blue), and at near ultraviolet and infrared. All of them are based on the same principle that I established and used in my original electric Helium-Neon laser.
A number of other important gas lasers have since evolved including the well-known carbon dioxide gas laser (CO2 laser) which can generate a very high-powered laser light beam, and which is used in laser radar as well as precision metal-welding in manufacturing for items such as pace-makers which are implanted in heart patients to regulate their heartbeats.
The Helium-Neon Laser itself turned out to be an immensely valuable instrument. Millions of them are being used both in research laboratories as well as for a wide range of practical uses. One of the most widespread uses of the Helium-Neon Gas Laser is something many people probably take for granted in their everyday lives. It's the scanner that reads the bar codes on shopping items at the check-out counters in supermarkets. That red beam is a laser light which is based on exactly the same principles as my original laser.
In the few short years that have followed my invention, laser research at industrial labs and universities has grown in various directions, as has the laser industry itself. The principle of converting electrical energy to laser light beam has been extended to extracting the laser light from semi-conductor elements, which is a whole new invention in itself and a huge industry as it provides the lasers used in Compact Discs (CD's) and other applications.
More recently, the chemical energies in gases are being converted to laser lights to produce chemical lasers. The light outputs from a variety of gas lasers is being used as the light sources for "optically pumped" lasers.
Academically, the field has mushroomed. At the early conferences, there used to be only a few hundred of us participating. In April 1995 at the International Laser Conference in Baltimore on the occasion of the 35th Anniversary of the First Gas Laser, I was invited to speak about the early history of the field. I gave a presentation entitled, "Gas Lasers: How Did They Come About." Thousands attended.
Ali Javan and Donald R. Herriott, left, work with the helium-neon optical gas maser.
Full Information:
http://www.farhangsara.com/laser.htm
MOHAMMAD ZAKARIYA RAZI
Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (864-930 A.D.) was born at Ray, Iran, Initially, he was interested in music but later on he learnt medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry and philosophy from a student of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, who was well versed in the ancient Greek, Persian and Indian systems of medicine and other subjects. He also studied under Ali Ibn Rabban. The practical experience gained at the well-known Muqtadari Hospital helped him in his chosen profession of medicine. At an early age he gained eminence as an expert in medicine and alchemy, so that patients and students flocked to him from distant parts of Asia.
He was first placed in-charge of the first Royal Hospital at Ray, from where he soon moved to a similar position in Baghdad where he remained the head of its famous Muqtadari Hospital for a long time. He moved from time to time to various cities, specially between Ray and Baghdad, but finally returned to Ray, where he died around 930 A.D. His name is commemorated in the Razi Institute near Tehran.
Razi was a Hakim; an alchemist and a philosopher. In medicine, his 'contribution was so significant that it can only be compared to that of Ibn Sina. Some of his works in medicine e.g. Kitab al-Mansoori, Al-Havi, Kitab al-Mulooki and Kitab al-Judari wa al-Hasabah earned everlasting fame. Kitab al-Mansoori, which was translated into Latin in the l5th century A.D., comprised ten volumes and dealt exhaustively with Greco-Arab medicine. Some of its volumes were published separately in Europe. His al-Judari wal Hasabah was the first treatise on smallpox and chicken-pox, and is largely based on Razi's original contribution. It was translated into various European languages. Through this treatise he became the first to draw clear comparisons between smallpox and chicken-pox. Al-Havi was the largest medical encyclopedia composed by then. It contained on each medical subject all important information that was available from Greek and Arab sources, and this was concluded by him by giving his own remarks based on his experience and views. A special feature of his medical system was that he greatly favored cure through correct and regulated food. This was combined with his emphasis on the influence of psychological factors on health. He also tried proposed remedies first on animals in order to evaluate in their effects and side effects. He was also an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anesthesia.
In addition to being a physician, he compounded medicines and, in his later years, gave himself over to experimental and theoretical sciences. It seems possible that he developed his chemistry independently of Jabir Ibn Hayyan. He has portrayed in great detail several chemical reactions and also given full descriptions of and designs f or about twenty instruments used in chemical investigations. His description of chemical knowledge is in plain and plausible language. One of his books called Kitab-al-Asrar deals with the preparation of chemical materials and their utilization. Another one was translated into Latin under the name Liber Experimentorum, He went beyond his predecessors in dividing substances into plants, animals and minerals, thus in a way opening the way for inorganic and organic chemistry. By and large, this classification of the three kingdoms still holds. As a chemist, he was the first to produce sulfuric acid together with some other acids, and he also prepared alcohol by fermenting sweet products.
His contribution as a philosopher is also well known. The basic elements in his philosophical system are the creator, spirit, matter, space and time. He discusses their characteristics in detail and his concepts of space and time as constituting a continuum are outstanding. His philosophical views were, however, criticized by a number of other Muslim scholars of the era.
He was a prolific author, who has left monumental treatises on numerous subjects. He has more than 200 outstanding scientific contributions to his credit, out of which about half deal with medicine and 21 concern alchemy. He also wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy and optics, but these writings could not be preserved. A number of his books, including Jami-fi-al-Tib, Mansoori, al-Havi, Kitab al-Jadari wa at-Hasabah, al-Malooki, Maqalah fi al-Hasat fi Kuli wa al-Mathana, Kitab al-Qalb, Kitab al-Mafasil, Kitab-al-'Ilaj al-Ghoraba, Bar al-Sa'ah, and al-Taqseem wa al-Takhsir, have been published in various European languages. About 40 of his manuscripts are still extant in the museums and libraries of Iran, Paris, Britain, Rampur, and Bankipur. His contribution has greatly influenced the development of science, in general, and medicine, in particular.
Full Information:
http://www.farhangsara.com/razi.htm
Civil Engineering:
Borj-e Milad
Borj-e Milad
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Tehran International Communications Center (The Milad Complex)
Information
Location Tehran, Iran
Status Complete
Constructed 2003-2007
Use Communications tower
Height
Antenna/Spire 435 m
Roof 315 m
Companies
Architect Yadman Sazeh Co.
Borj-e Milad (aka Milad Tower, Persian: ČŃĚ ăیáÇĎ ý ) is the tallest tower in Iran. Built in the Gisha district of Tehran, it stands 435 meters (1427 ft) high from base to tip of the antenna. The head consists of a large pod with 12 floors, the roof of which is at 315 m (1034 ft). Below this is a staircase and elevators to reach the area.
Milad tower is part of The Tehran International Trade and Convention Center. Scheduled for completion in late 2007, the project includes the Milad telecommunication tower offering restaurants at the top with spectacular views of Tehran, a five-star hotel, a convention center, a world trade center, and an IT park (to be completed by March 2007). The complex seeks to respond to the needs of business in the globalized world of the 21st century by offering facilities combining trade, information, communication, convention and accommodation all in one place.
The complex features a parking area of 27,000 square meters, a large computer and telecommunication unit, a cultural and scientific unit, a commercial transaction center, a temporary showroom for exhibiting products, a specialized library, an exhibition hall and an administrative unit. Milad Tower is also claimed to be the fourth tallest free standing structure in the world, and the first considering the vast functional structure on its top and the only tower with an octagonal base, symbolizing traditional Persian architecture. The Milad Tower is predicted to replace the long-time symbol of Tehran, the Azadi Tower.
Full Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borj-e_Milad
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What's all this? I only clicked because of the thread title.
