Prominent Iranian academics honored

TEHRAN,Dec.26(MNA) -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad presented medals to several outstanding scholars from four Iranian academies here on Saturday at the Presidential Office. The award presentation ceremony took place in the presence of directors of the academies, including Iranian Academy of Arts Director Ali Mo’allem Damghani and Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature Director Gholamali Haddad-Adel. The directors gave some details about the annual activities of the academies to the president. Scholars Abdolmohammad Ayati, Esmaeil Sadat and Badrozzaman Qarib from the Academy of Persian Language and Literature were presented the first-grade medal. Tar virtuoso Jalil Shahnaz, santur virtuoso Majid Kianian and architect Ali-Asgahr Sherbaf were selected as the top scholars from the Iranian Academy of Arts to be honored with a medal. Top honorees of the Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences were Abbas Shafiei, Fereidun Azizi and Abdolkarim Vesal. Parviz Davami, Abbas Sahrifi Tehrani and Bahman Yazdi-Samadi from the Academy of Sciences were also honored with a medal. The top honorees are awarded by the president each year.