Iran to Grant Islamic Noble Prize to Scientists

Iran announced on Saturday that it plans to award Noble-like science and technology prizes to selected Muslim scientists.

Iranian Vice-President for Science and Technology Nasrin Soltankhah said the Iranian government plans to grant a Noble-like prize to selected Muslim scientists in a bid to encourage Muslim world scholars to promote and elevate their works and prepare them for tighter and harder rivalries at global levels, like the Noble Prize.

The Iranian biennial award is called the “Great Prophet World Prize”, according to the Iranian vice-president, who said the move is meant to promote rivalry among Muslim world researchers and scientists.

“The prize will be granted biennially to the Muslim world scientists in three technological fields in which Iran has also make outstanding progress,” she added.

Iran has made huge achievements in various fields of science and technology, from nuclear knowledge to stem cell and medicine production as well as nanotechnology.

Iranian Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi announced in August that Iran is now able to synthesize 15 kinds of radiomedicines inside the country, stressing that the achievement was made due to the efforts made by the country’s nuclear scientists.

“Due to the efforts made by the Iranian scientists and the nuclear scientists martyred (by the enemies), we have 15 radiomedicines in our country which are vital for providing diagnosis and treatment services to the patients, specially cancerous patients,” she said in a ceremony in Tehran at the time.

Also, in January, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony in Tehran unveiled 6 new types of home-made medicines used for treating various kinds of diseases.

The Iranian president unveiled 2 new types of drugs and 4 types of raw materials for treating osteoporosis, hemophilia and neurological, skin and muscle diseases and breast cancer.

Iranian scientists had also in 2011 managed to produce a new type of anti-cancer drug using the venoms of reptiles like snakes and scorpions.

“After several years of research and studies on a combination of snake and scorpion venoms, the anti-cancer drug was produced in Iran,” Abbas Zare’, the Director of the Venomous Animals Department of Iran’s Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, told reporters in October 2011.

“This anti-cancer drug has been produced from snake and scorpion venoms after 10 years of research work and has been extracted from the fat (peptide) of such animals,” he added.