MAMMAD MUBARIZ ALIZADE
(1911-1994)
Orientalist
Mammad Alizade was born on 23 December 1911 in the City of Khamna, Iran. He received his primary education in Khamna. In 1928, he moved to Nakhchivan. He graduated from Transcaucasian Communist University, Faculty of Politics, in the city of Tbilisi. He worked for a while in Tbilisi and Iravan, and then arrived in Baku, where he started his postgraduate studies at Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute and got a teaching job at a higher school in 1937. He then was employed at the Institute of Literature and Language of Azerbaijan branch of USSR Academy of Sciences.
In 1944, Mammad Alizade started his career at Baku State University. From 1962-1964, he served as dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, chaired the Department of Literature and History of Near and Middle East Nations. At BSU, he made a crucial contribution to the preparation of highly-qualified specialists teaching the history of Arab, Persian and Turkish literature, and also played a vital role in writing and publishing quality study programs, textbooks and handbooks. From 1944 to 1994, he contributed greatly to the training of Orientalists, particularly specialists in Iranian studies in Azerbaijan. He published nearly 200 books and papers on Persian literature. Mammad Alizade was a member of BSU Higher Scientific Council and Scientific Council of the Faculty of Oriental Studies.
He supervised nine PhD and one ScD student to completion.
He defended a PhD thesis in 1947, achieving a ScD degree in 1969 and professorship in 1970. In 1980, he was given the title “Merited Scientist”. He was awarded several medals.
Mammad Alizade sat on the Central Committee of the Coordination Council on Literature under the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences; Scientific and Methodological Council on Higher Philological Education of USSR Ministry of Higher and Professional Education.
He became a member of Azerbaijan Journalists` Union in 1934. Apart from a research and teaching activity, he was known as a translator of classical Persian literature.
