Alenush Terian

Early life

She was born to an Armenian family in Tehran, Iran. Her father, Arto, was a stage director, poet and translator (with the pen name Arizad meaning Born to Aryan) who had translated Shahnameh, from Persian to Armenian. and her, Vartu, mother and stage actress and director.

Education

Teriān graduated in 1947 in the Science Department of University of Tehran. She began her career in the physics laboratory of this university and was elected the chief of laboratory operations in the same year.

She signed for scholarship to study in France but Dr. Hesabi didn't accept it. He believed it's already enough for a woman to study this much. At last she left Iran for France, by her Father's financial support, where in 1956 she obtained her doctorate in Atmospheric Physics from Sorbonne University. Upon this she returned to Iran and became Assistant Professor in thermodynamics at University of Tehran. Later she worked in Solar Physics in the then West Germany for a period of four months through a scholarship that was awarded by the German government to University of Tehran. In 1964 Dr. Teriān became the first female Professor of Physics in Iran.

In 1966, Professor Teriān became Member of the Geophysics Committee of University of Tehran. In 1969 she was elected chief of the Solar Physics studies at this university and began to work in the Solar Observatory of which she was one of the founders. Professor Teriān retired in 1979. At the time of her death she was living in Tehran.

Professor Teriān's 90th birthday celebration in Tehran was attended by a number of Iranian parliamentarians and over 100 Iranian Armenians.

Terian died on March 4, 2011.