Monday 22 July 2013

Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi , a genius?

Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (born in 1953 Kerman) is an Iranian politician and was the former minister of science and technology in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first cabinet from 2005 to 2009. He was approved by Iran's parliament with the least number of supporting votes possible (supporters had only one vote more than opponents).

He was elected as a Member of the Parliament in 2012 elections. Zahedi received his PhD in Mathematics from Kerman University where he is currently a "full professor". However, his scientific qualification has been questioned widely by Iranian scientific community

Zahedi has 15 scientific articles in ISI with very few citations (most of them self citations). He repeatedly called himself "one of the greatest mathematicians of the time"

 With such a minor scientific achievement he was promoted to full professorship in 1999 (when he had only published 11 articles). Zahedi's profile claims he is a member of New York Academy of Sciences. An investigation by BBC Persian in July 2009 debunked this claim

His profile also claims that he was named among the most prominent Mathematicians of the century by American Mathematical Society for which there is no evidence found on American Mathematical Society website.

From Tabnak:
Before becoming minister, Zahedi had no previous administrative or managerial experience except for serving on the board of education in the small town of Babak in the province of Kerman from 1982-1983 and serving on the city council.
But when he was introduced to parliament, he argued that he was called “The Scientific Man of the Year, 1997-1998″ by “Cambridge International” and “one of the most prominent mathematicians in the world” by the American Mathematical Society from 1998-2002. In parliament when Zahedi boasted of his credentials, he was met with a lot of questioning from hardline parliament members including Emad Afrough.
Our investigation has shown that the Cambridge International has nothing to do with the famous Cambridge University. It is a website that sends you a “Man of the Year” certificate for any field for the price of $95 and will even print your name in a silver frame for an extra $360.

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