Abdul Jabbar Abdullah ( ar, عبد الجبار عبد الله) (1911 – July 9, 1969) was an Iraqi

wave theory In historical linguistics, the wave model or wave theory (German ''Wellentheorie'') is a model of language change in which a new language feature (innovation) or a new combination of language features spreads from its region of origin, affecting ...

physicist, dynamical

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

, and President Emeritus of

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

. Abdullah earned his Sc.D. degree in meteorology from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1946, before being appointed head of the Iraqi Teacher Association, and then chairman of the Department of Physics, College of Education, Baghdad. In 1952, he became a visiting research professor in meteorology at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, and in 1965 he joined the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

as a scientific visitor. In his memoir, nuclear physicist

Khidir Hamza Khidir Hamza ( ar, خضر حمزة) is an Iraqi atomic scientist who worked for Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme in the 1980s and early 1990s. Following the Gulf War, he left Iraq in 1994 and went into exile in the United States. He provided te ...

claims Abdullah not only taught him, but was also instrumental in getting the former into MIT to pursue a master's degree in nuclear engineering after Hamza's initial rejection by the institute.

later became part of Iraq's nuclear research program, before defecting to the United States and testifying on the program before the Senate. As a member of the

Mandaean Mandaeans ( ar, المندائيون ), also known as Mandaean Sabians ( ) or simply as Sabians ( ), are an ethnoreligious group who are followers of Mandaeism. They believe that John the Baptist was the final and most important prophet. They ...

religious minority, and a democratic personality, Abdullah was harassed towards the end of his life and arrested. He was imprisoned for nearly a year but was released and later permitted to travel to the United States. There he held professorial and research posts at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

, and the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

in Albany. He died on July 9, 1969.

Biography

Abdul Jabbar Abdullah was born to a

family in the town of

Qal'at Saleh The town of Qal'at Saleh ( ar, قلعة صالح) is the district centre of Qal'at Saleh District, Maysan Governorate, southern Iraq. It is located along the road that links Basra to Amarah, a mere 40 km away. Qalat Saleh’s nearest towns a ...

, Qal'at Saleh District,

Maysan Province , image_map = Maysan in Iraq.svg , mapsize = 200px , settlement_type = Governorate , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_ ...

(formerly Al-Amaarah) in southeastern Iraq in 1911. Upon finishing his secondary school education in Baghdad, he left for Lebanon to pursue university education. There he enrolled at The

American University of Beirut The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...

(AUB) where he majored in Physics and graduated with a BS in 1934. Later, after AUB, he did his post graduate studies at The

(MIT) where he earned his PhD. Back in Iraq, Abdullah joined the Physics faculty at The Higher Normal College (later one of the constituent colleges of

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

), between 1949 and 1958 and became Chairman of the Physics Department. In 1958, Abdullah was appointed secretary General of the newly constituted University of Baghdad, and in 1959 he became the University's President; remaining in this post until the February, right-wing ultra nationalist, coup d'etat which he was forced to resign, and badly treated for political reasons.

Research

Abdullah's research interests included cloud stratification, solitary waves, and pressure pumps.

Bibliography

Abdullah has published multiple books on atmospheric sciences, and was the editor and publisher of Iraq's sole science journal in the 1950s: "Proceedings of the Iraqi Scientific Society".

Books

*Abdul Jabbar Abdullah, James J. O'Brien, National Center for Atmospheric Research (U.S.). Internal Gravity Waves of Finite Amplitude in a Stratified Incompressible Atmosphere: -- a Quasi-characteristic Method. ''National Center for Atmospheric Research''. *Abdul Jabbar Abdullah. On the Dynamics of Hurricanes. ''New York University'', 1953. *Abdul Jabbar Abdullah. Group-velocity of Atmospheric Waves. ''Massachusetts Institute of Technology'', 1946.

Death

Abdullah died at the

Albany Medical Center Albany Medical Center (AMC) is the name of the umbrella organization over the Albany Medical Center Hospital and Albany Medical College in Albany, New York. Though the name Albany Medical Center referring to the two institutions on their shared c ...

on July 9, 1969 after long illness.

Legacy

Abdul Jabbar Abdullah is highly regarded by Iraqis, who commemorated his 100th birthday in Iraq and in the

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

. A hall in the

is named after him, as well as numerous streets.

References

External links

Abdul Jabbar Abdullah - Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdullah, Abdul Jabbar Iraqi scholars Iraqi physicists Meteorologists 1911 births 1969 deaths Iraqi Mandaeans People from Maysan Governorate Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni University of Colorado faculty Iraqi emigrants to the United States