Today is Monday; 1st of the Iranian month of Shahrivar 1395 solar hijri, corresponding to 19th of the Islamic month of Zi’l-Qa’dah 1437 lunar hijri; and August 22, 2016, of the Christian Gregorian Calendar.

719 lunar years ago, on this day in 718 AH, the Iranian Muslim mathematician and physicist, Kamal od-Din Hassan Ibn Ali al-Farisi, passed away. Born in Tabriz, he made two major contributions to science, one on optics, the other on number theory. Farisi was a pupil of the great astronomer and mathematician Qutb od-Din ash-Shirazi, who in turn was a pupil of the famous Khwaja Naseer od-Din Tusi. His work on optics was prompted by a question put to him concerning the refraction of light. Shirazi advised him to consult “Kitab al-Manazer” (Book of Optics) of Ibn al-Haytham, and Farisi made such a deep study of this treatise that Shirazi suggested that he write what is essentially a revision of that major work, which came to be called the "Tanqih al-Manazer".  Farisi is known for giving the first mathematically satisfactory explanation of the rainbow, and an explication of the nature of colours. He also made a number of important contributions to number theory. His most impressive work in number theory is on amicable numbers. In "Tadhkirat al-Ahbaab fi Bayan at-Tahabb" (Memorandum for Friends on the proof of Amicability) he introduced a major new approach to a whole area of number theory, introducing ideas concerning factorization and combinatorial methods. In fact Farisi's approach is based on the unique factorization of an integer into powers of prime numbers.

661 lunar years ago, on this day in 776 AH, Mohammad Shah I, the second ruler of the Bahmani Dynasty of the Deccan in southern India, passed away in his capital Golbarga after a reign of 17 years, and was succeeded by his son, Mujahid Shah. Better known as organizer of the Bahmani Empire that was founded by his father, Ala od-Din Hassan Gangu Bahman Shah – a general of Iranian origin who revolted against the excesses of the Turkic ruler of northern subcontinent, Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq – Mohammad Shah I founded many institutions and was a patron of Persian language and literature. The Bahmani Sultanate, which lasted for 180 years, developed a distinct Muslim culture and style of architecture that evolved out of direct contact with Iran and the migration in large numbers of Iranian scholars, poets, architects, traders, statesmen, and soldiers.

490 solar years ago, on this day in 1526 AD, Sultan Qutb od-Din Bahadur Shah, after returning from exile in Delhi, ascended the throne of Gujarat in western India by removing his youngest brother Mahmoud Shah II, who had been installed as king by the nobles on the murder of the eldest brother, Sikandar Shah, within a few months of the death of his father, Muzaffar Shah II. During his 11-year reign he had to face the menace of the Portuguese who raided the seaports of his realm and seized several islands including what would later be known as Bombay (renamed Mumbai today). He made the fatal mistake of seeking assistance from the Portuguese against the expansion of the Mughals of northern India. While on board a Portuguese ship to sign a treaty, he was treacherously killed by the Portuguese admiral and his body dumped into the sea. The Gujarat kingdom that declared itself independent of the Delhi Sultanate in 1407 by Muzaffar Shah I (son of a Rajput convert to Islam) was a Persianate state and promoted Islamic art, culture and architecture for 166 years until its annexation by the Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great in 1573.

389 solar years ago, on this day in 1627 AD, the last Battle of La Rochelle broke out between the French Catholics and Protestants. This battle started due to provocation by England. The Catholics, under command of Cardinal Richelieu emerged victorious in the battle of La Rochelle in western France.

377 solar years ago, on this day in 1639 AD, Madras (now Chennai), was founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers in the district of Chennaipatanam which was leased from King Abdullah Qutb Shah of the dynasty of Iranian origin of Hyderabad-Deccan. The area was added to the Qutb Shahi dominions by the Iranian statesman and adventurer, Mohammad Sa’eed Ardestani of Isfahan, titled “Mir Jumla”, who later went over to the Mughal court in northern India, was made governor of Bengal with capital in Dhaka (Bangladesh), and died in Khizrpur, Garo Hills, in what is now the Meghalaya-Assam border while returning from an expedition to Assam. Madras is derived from the Arabic word Madrasah for schools, since there were several Islamic schools in the area. Currently it is the capital of the Tamilnadu State of India.

318 solar years ago, on this day in 1698 AD, a treaty was signed by Russia, Poland, and Denmark against Sweden. The kings of these three countries intended to defeat the young Swedish King Charles XII and to occupy Sweden. On this basis, two years later on April 1700 AD, these three countries attacked Sweden, but were defeated. Charles XII concluded peace with Denmark, and attacked and occupied Poland in 1704, but suffered defeat in his war against Russia.

199 lunar years ago, on this day in 1238 AH, a treaty was signed between representatives of the Iranian Qajarid and the Ottoman Turkish sultanates in Erzurum in eastern Turkey, following the defeat of the forces of Sultan Mahmoud II by the army of Fath Ali Shah. The treaty followed the consecutive failures of the Ottomans against Iran. Iran relinquished its claims to Solaimaniyeh in northeastern Iraq and the western part of Zuhaab region, and in return the Ottomans recognized Iran's sovereignty over Khoramshahr Port, Khizr Island, and the western bank of Arvandroud River, in addition to Iran's shipping rights in the joint waterway.

168 solar years ago, on this day in 1848 AD, the US, as part of its expansionist policies, annexed New Mexico. In the 1830s, it had occupied Texas and in 1846 had seized from Mexico the large region of California including what are now the southwestern US states.

167 solar years ago, on this day in 1849 AD, the first air raid in history was launched by Austria through pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.

156 solar years ago, on this day in 1860 AD, one of the inventors of TV, Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, was born in Germany. He conducted extensive research for telecasting of images, and finally invented a device which could emit image waves for 30-meter distance, died in 1940.

152 solar years ago, on this day in 1864 AD, the Geneva Convention was signed by twelve world countries for providing assistance to soldiers wounded on the battlefields. It stipulated that medical personnel and relief workers are impartial and should be immune from any aggression. The initiator of this treaty was the Swiss figure, Henry Dunant.

68 solar years ago, on this day in 1950 AD, Egypt’s Hassan Abdur-Rahim, the first Muslim to swim the English Channel between Britain and France, did it for the 3rd and won the Daily Mail race. In all, he successfully swam across the English Channel four times – 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951.

26 solar years ago, on this day in 1990 AD, prominent Iranian literary figure, Pervez Natel Khanlari, passed away at the age of 75. Son of the Qajarid era nobleman, Mirza Abu’l-Hassan Khan E’tesaam al-Mamalik of Natel near Babol in Mazandaran, he had a good schooling and showed his flair for Persian literature, obtaining a doctorate degree from Tehran University in 1943. He then studied linguistics at Paris University for two years, and on return to Iran began his academic career. He founded a new course at Tehran University, named history of Persian language at Tehran University. Khanlari was founder and editor of the widely-circulated “Sokhan” literary journal from the early 1940s to 1978. In the early 1960s during his brief tenure as Minister of Education, he came up with the novel idea of giving male high school graduates the option of serving as de facto teachers in villages and townships, in lieu of their two-year military service, which led to the formation of the Literacy Corps. The programme covered over 2.2 million children between the ages of six and twelve who had not yet attended school, as well as a million adults, but was scrapped due to the opposition of the US embassy and the dreaded SAVAK secret police. In 1964, he founded the Bonyad-e Farhang-e Iran (Iranian Culture Foundation), which after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, was merged, along with other cultural institutions, to form Moʾassasa-ye Motaale’at va Tahqiqaat-e Farhangi (Institute of Cultural Studies and Research) under the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. He was a poet in his own right, and besides writing books and editing classical Persian works, he translated a number of books into Persian from English, French and Arabic. The 4-volume “Tarikh-e Zabaan-e Farsi” (The Persian Language and its History), was his seminal work and the culmination of his systematic investigation in Persian lexicography and the historical development of the Persian language. Among his translations, mention could be made of Abu Ali Ibn Sina’s “Makarej al-Horouf” from Arabic. His critical editions of classic texts include “Samak-e Ayyar” (5 volumes with introduction and notes), and the “Dastanhā-ye Bidpāy”, a Persian version of “Kalila wa Demna” by Mohammd bin Abdullah Bukhari (12th century).

18 solar years ago, on this day in 1998 AD, prominent revolutionary official, Seyyed Asadollah Lajavardi, was martyred by MKO hypocrites, at his shop in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, at the age of 53. Born in a religious family, he studied theological sciences before working as a draper. From his teens, he was an avowed opponent of the British-stalled and US-backed Pahlavi regime, as a result of which he was arrested several times by SAVAK. Once he was sent to Evin prison for attempting to blow up the office in Tehran of the Israeli airline El Al. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, he was appointed the chief prosecutor of Tehran. In June 1981, he was given the added post of warden, which he held till 1985, transforming prisons into rehabilitation centres and ideological schools. He inspired inmates to study Islam, realize the errors of their ways, and did penance before returning to society.

16 solar years ago, on this day in 2000 AD, the scholar, Hojjat al-Islam Mirza Hassan Ghaffari, passed away att he age of 74. Born in Tabriz, northwestern Iran, he was a product of the Qom seminary. Following victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, he settled in Tehran and played an active role in promoting religious sciences. He is the author of several books, including “Hadith from the Shi’a Perspective”, and “Scientific Endeavours”.

9 solar years ago, on this day in 2007 AD, Iran developed a new 2,000-pound "smart" bomb, the latest in a recent series of new measures to upgrade the weapons systems, for strengthening the defence capabilities of the Islamic Republic.

6 solar years ago, on this day in 2010 AD Iran started mass production of two models of high-speed missile-launching assault boats, as part of efforts to boost security along its large coastlines on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

1^st of Shahrivar (of the Iranian calendar): is commemorated in the Islamic Republic of Iran as “Bu Ali Sina Day” and consequently “Physicians Day” in honour of the great Iranian-Islamic polymath Abu Ali Hussain ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina (Avicenna to medieval Europe) who flourished over a millennium ago, and in addition to being a pioneering medic who wrote 40 works on medicine, was a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, alchemist, physicist, geographer, geologist, psychologist, Islamic theologian, jurist, logician, linguist, poet, and minister of state of the Buwaiyhid Dynasty. His philosophical masterpiece is “ash-Shif’a”, while his medical magnum opus “al-Qanoun fi’t-Tibb” (Canons of Medicine) was taught in European universities till the 18^th century and is still studied in Islamic lands. Born around 980 AD near the ancient Iranian city of Bukhara (currently in the Republic of Uzbekistan), he passed away in 1037 at the age of 58 in Hamadan, western Iran, where his mausoleum stands.