Iran Makes the Sciences A Part of Its Revolution

Burton Richter, right, an American Nobel laureate in physics who spoke at Sharif University in Tehran, called the students there "very impressive." (By Newsha Tavakolian -- Polaris)

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has encouraged scientific breakthroughs for geopolitical reasons. "If you are in pursuit of a science, you bring dissatisfaction and displeasure to the enemy of the revolution's aspirations," Khamenei said during a visit to Iran's stem cell research center in 2006.

In 1979, revolutionaries accused Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the country's U.S.-backed autocrat, of having made Iran dependent on other states for technology, military equipment and industrial hardware.

During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the country faced an enemy supported by superpowers that isolated Iran. Squadrons of U.S.-made F-4 fighter jets were grounded because of U.S. sanctions that barred Iran's access to spare parts.

"In the war, the whole world was against us. We learned that we had to stand on our own two feet," said Manoucher Manteqi, chief executive of Iran's largest carmaker, Iran Khodro. The state-run company produced more than 600,000 cars in 2007 and has no equivalent in the Middle East. India's Tata Motors produced just over 400,000 vehicles in 2007; French automaker Peugeot Citroen -- with which Iran Khodro has a joint venture -- makes about 3.5 million vehicles a year worldwide.

"The sanctions forced us to use our full potential. We are now commercializing what we learned back then," explained Manteqi, who wore a worker's coat to show unity with his assembly-line colleagues during an interview in March.

Iranians worry about the impact of U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. "They will lead to limitations in our cooperation with other countries," Manteqi said. "But they also mean that others cannot use Iran's potential, like foreign carmakers we want to cooperate with. Iran needs 1.5 million cars a year -- this is an interesting market. Under sanctions, we might have to do things ourselves, but we are used to that."

"If the West refuses Iran nuclear technology, it means they might pressure us in the future over development of other technologies," said Nasser Aghdami of the Royan stem cell institute in Tehran. The state-sponsored facility does research on human embryonic stem cells. "Our religious authorities have decided that we can do research on fetuses until 4 months old," he explained.

"We exchange information with scientists in the U.S. I feel science should be above politics," Aghdami said.

But when he wanted to order a new ultracentrifuge machine needed for research, he found that his foreign counterparts weren't allowed to send the equipment to Iran because it was considered "dual use" -- technology that could be applied to Iran's nuclear program. The nuclear centrifuges that Iran produces cannot be used for stem cell research.

"This shows that we still need a lot of willpower to achieve our goal," Aghdami said. Iranian stem cell scientists are already involved in efforts to reprogram skin cells into embryonic cells in order to bypass ethical problems, he said. "Only three other countries -- Germany, the U.S. and Japan -- are involved in this. We are proud to compete with the best."

Persia, as Iran was known until the 19th century, made discoveries in the natural sciences, mathematics and philosophy. After the Arab-Islamic invasion in the 7th century, Persian scientists developed medical alcohol and made important contributions in algebra and chemistry.

"Everybody wants their kids to study here. Step into a taxi in Tehran and the driver will tell you this is his second job to support his kids in university," said Hashem Rafii-Tabar, a professor at a research institute in Tehran. He returned to his homeland six years ago to set up a department for nanotechnology for a consortium of nine Iranian universities. His students are making conceptual designs for nanodevices that can identify and destroy individual cancer cells.

"We have high ambitions," Rafii-Tabar explained. "Already we are the number one in nanotechnology in the region, maybe only equaled by Israel. Iran produces more papers on this subject in international scientific indexed publications than any other country in the region. However, Iran has not yet submitted patents, official new inventions. Its regional competitors have also not reached this stage."

The Iranian government supports the nanotechnology project. Last month a nanotechnology supercomputing center was opened, financed by the government.

Rafii-Tabar observed that science projects in Iran often take off with a flying start but later run aground. "When a new field of research comes to Iran, it incubates, goes on to be taught at the famous universities, but revolutions and changes of government have stopped projects in the past," he said. "We used to be big in IT, but we still need foreign software for our ATM machines."

At Iran Khodro's factory west of Tehran, the day shift had just ended. But Manteqi, the CEO, was not leaving. "I should work harder than everyone else, because many things still go wrong," he explained with a smile. "As the late Ayatollah Khomeini said: 'If we want it, we can do it.' We have more experts and professionals in Iran than in any of the neighboring countries. If they are managed properly, we can fulfill our ambitions. Iran can do this in cooperation with the rest of the world, but, if needed, we can also do it by ourselves."