Ali musharafa

Ali Mustafa Musharrafa Pasha (1898-1950) was an outstanding Egyptian scientist who added much to scientific research in the fields of physics, quantum mechanics, radiation, space invasion, quantum theory, applied mathematics, and nuclear physics. He also wrote a novel in colloquial Arabic in the 1920s.

Originally born in Damietta, north of Cairo, Musharrafa was the first Egyptian to have completed a doctorate in mathematics. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of London in 1923 and 1924 respectively. He was also the first Egyptian to become involved in space research. He contributed to the development of the Theory of Relativity and was one of the distinguished few who were in close contact with the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein.

Returning to Egypt after he received his degrees, he was assigned as an ‘Associate Professor’ of applied mathematics at the Faculty of Science at Cairo University in 1925. He was promoted in the following year to the rank of ‘Professor’ when he was only 28 years old, and then appointed to be its first Egyptian Dean in 1936.

He published a book on the Theory of Relativity, which was translated into English, French and German, and was reprinted in the USA, other than around 15 scientific books about relativity and mathematics.

In 1939 he published a study on the Egyptian Music, and in 1942, Mustafa Musharrafa took part in founding the Egyptian Society of Music Amateurs (ESMA), which aimed to promote music education in Egypt and the whole Arab world, along with Yousif Greise, Louis Greise, and Hassan Rashid.

On the institutional level, Musharrafa had a great effect beside the fact that he attained his position as the dean of the Faculty of Science for years, as he acted for the establishment of the “Egyptian society of mathematics and physics” in 1936 and the “Egyptian Academy of Sciences” in 1945. Musharrafa also worked for the creation of a research council, which foreshadowed the foundation of the “National Center for Research” later in 1956.

In 1945, Musharrafa was invited by Einstein for a one year visit to Germany to contribute in an atomic research as a visiting Professor, but he refused saying “There are a whole generation in my country that needs me”

In an article titled “The university and scientific research”, Musharrafa warned against considering the university a collection of institutes of higher learning that aim to produce young technicians such as doctors, engineers and the like. Instead, he argued, that university should bring life to true scientific spirit, particularly as “among Egyptians today are not a few who have undertaken scientific research in Western universities”.

Musharrafa had also stood for the idea that in order for the scientific life in Egypt to develop, scientific books written by Arabs and translated by the Europeans must be published and taught, such as books of al’Khwarizmi in algebra and many others, because by acknowledging our former scholars and researchers, this will be an incentive for us to emulate and to follow their steps. Moreover, Musharrafa believed that “Arabization” of science is a prerequisite to modernization, and he even proposed a strategy with that sense in a short article on “the Arabic language as a scientific instrument”.

Poisoned and dead, his body was mysteriously found in January 1950, placing a big question mark on the reasons he was assassinated for, and leaving the international scientific circles deeply moved at the death of the Egyptian genius. Albert Einstein commented on his death:

“I can not believe that Musharrafa is dead, he is alive through his researches. We are in need of his talents, it is a great loss; he was a genius. I used to follow up his researches in atomic energy; definitely he is one of the best scientists in physics.”

– Albert Einstein mourning Ali Mustafa Musharrafa