A Man of the Afshar Klan

Modern herbal medicine has been in Iran for about a century. Before this the farmers regarded anything that harmed their animals or fields ‘punishment from the heavens’ for the error of their ways and the only way they knew how to deal with such misfortune was through prayer and magic.

Jalal Afshar was born in Urmie in 1894 where he was educated. He was the son of Jamshid Khan Majd ol-Soltane whose family held government postings in Iran since the Safavid dynasty.

He went to Georgia for further education and eventually received a degree in Zoology in Moscow.

In 1918 he returned to Iran and began research at the Pasteur Institute. He later worked for the Ministry of Public Works and continued his research in zoology and entomology.

He began teaching entomology and pest control at the agricultural schools of the time until in 1972 (? 80 saalegi?) when he became a professor at the University of Tehran. He is known as the father of Iranian zoology and entomology and the systematic control of agricultural parasites.

This film was made to coincide with the first international congress on entomology in Iran as well as to commemorate the anniversary if his passing.

Filmography