From earthquakes to politics: The life story of Ali Akbar Moinfar, Iran’s first oil minister

According to Energy Press, Tehran witnessed the birth of a man whose name would later become immortal in Iranian history; a man who was to know both the land and oil. He was the first person to step into the newly established Ministry of Oil; Ali Akbar Moinfar. Before him, oil was under the supervision of the National Oil Company and had no ministry.

Moinfar was born on January 12, 1927 and studied civil engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Tehran University. Later, he went to Japan to study earthquake engineering at Waseda University. His return to Iran was the beginning of a new chapter in engineering science; where, by establishing the country’s accelerometer network, he rightfully earned the title of the father of Iranian earthquake engineering.

But he was not just a man of the academy; his intellectual roots were formed in the national movement and the ideas of Mossadegh and Bazargan. During the oil nationalization era, he participated in rallies with the enthusiasm of a student and wore an Iranian flag on his chest, which read: “The oil industry throughout the country must be nationalized.”