Anybody familiar with Persian literature is well aware of the works and services rendered by Dr. Mohammad Moin. He created great literary works, the most brilliant of which are his Farsi dictionaries. The scale and volume of his efforts in this field were so vast that it is necessary to talk about him, since yesterday was his eighty-fourth birthday.

Mohammad Moin was born on April 29th, 1918 in the city of Rasht (about 300 kilometers north of Tehran). He was only 6 years old when his mother died. He took refuge in his father's arms, but alas, his father could not bear his grief and five days later he died, too. After the death of his parents, his grandfather, a prominent cleric in Rasht, took care of him.

Mohammad Moin was very talented and finished elementary school when he was just 7 years old. In 1931 after submitting his research paper in French he received a BA in literature and philosophy. In the meantime, under the supervision of a famous psychologist he studied other subjects. In 1942 he received a Ph.D. in Persian literature. He was the first student ever to receive this degree in Iran.

His love and passion for knowledge and his mastery of English, French, Arabic and some ancient languages inspired him to travel around the world and participate and lecture at scientific and cultural gatherings and conferences. He lectured or participated in the Iran and India Cultural Relations Conference (India, 1947), Harvard University (U.S.A., 1954), the 24th Congress of Orientalists (Munich, 1957), Soviet universities and academies (Moscow and Baku, 1957), Lahore Islamic Conference (Pakistan, 1957), the French Society of Scientific Research (Paris, 1958), Punjab University (Pakistan, 1958), the 25th Congress of Orientalists (Moscow, 1959), and Princeton University (U.S.A., 1963). Also, the French government invited him to establish the Persian Language and Literature Faculty at Strasbourg University in 1960. Participating in these and other scientific gatherings supplied him with the knowledge and information required for his various literary works.

In addition to his numerous scientific achievements at home, he was awarded many scientific medals and honors. In 1960 he was awarded the Art and Literature Medal by the French government, and in 1963 the Ordre des Palmes Academiques Medal was awarded to him by French President Charles de Gaulle.

Generally speaking, Dr. Moin has worked in three fields: writing, correcting old books of writers of the past, and translating. His three best works are "Borhan-e-Qate", Lexicography, and his Farsi Dictionary.

Aside from lexicography, he has created other great works such as "Tahlil-e-Haft Paykar-e-Nezami" (Analysis of Nezami's 7 Figures), "Biography of Mohammad-e-Qazvini", "Farsi Prose Anthology", "Farsi Poetry Anthology", "Hafez-e Shirin Sokhan", and "Anthology of Dehkhoda's Poems".

Dr. Moin translated many books such as "Educational Psychology", "Iran From the Beginning up to Islam", and hundreds of other scientific, literary and cultural essays on different subjects such as lexicography, grammar, literature, language, the history of literature, bibliography, philosophy and theology. Also, according to Dehkhoda's will, he supervised the publication of "Dehkhoda's Lexicography" for more than two decades, which was a very great work.

After participating in a ten-day conference in Turkey in 1966 and working hard as a university professor in Iran, he suddenly collapsed in the teacher's office. He was sent to Canada for medical treatment but after three months was sent back to Iran. Finally, after struggling with death for four and a half years, he died in 1971.