Abolhassan Ziyā-Zarifi (; 20 August 1926 – 4 October 2010) was an Iranian scientist, academic, author, and political figure. In recognition of his lifelong work in combating pulmonary diseases he was voted an Honorary Member of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (IUTLD). He has written, edited, and contributed to dozens of books, pamphlets, and scientific articles. His books have ranged from the earlier purely scientific volumes (The Bacteriology of Tuberculosis, 1973) to works on modern Iranian political history, including his biographies of Hassan Zia-Zarifi (his brother, one of the founders of Iran's Communist guerrilla movement), and work as editor of the autobiography of Ahmad Zirakzadeh (his wife's uncle, one of the founders of the liberal Iran Party and a member of Mohammad Mosaddegh's cabinet). Personal life Abolhassan Zia-Zarifi was born on 20 August 1926 in Lahijan, Gilan Province, the eldest son of Hajji Issa Zia-Zarifi and Rukhsareh Monajjemi. His father was a prominent local merchant and a highly pious man. Abolhassan Zia-Zarifi was strongly inspired by paternal forebears, including two of his uncles, his paternal grandfather and great great grandfather, who were all physicians. His great great grandfather, the physician Mirza Rahim Lahiji, wrote poetry in the early 19th century under the pen name Zarif ("Delicate"), from whence the family name Zarifi. His grandfather Hojatollah Hakimbashi ("the physician") also wrote poetry under the name Atarod. Abolhassan Zia-Zarifi's paternal uncle, Mirza Abolfazl, was a prominent physician with the title Zia-ol Atteba ("Light of Physicians"), whose title, combined with the ancestral pen-name, created the family name Zia-Zarifi. He showed early academic promise and after finishing the available secondary education in Lahijan was sent to finish his high school in the provincial capital of Rasht. He attended the University of Tehran from 1945 to 1952, where he met his wife, Dr. Touran Zirakzadeh, whom he married in 1952. Politics and the Student Movement Abolhassan Zia-Zarifi became attracted to leftist political ideologies while a teenager in Gilan, at a time when the influence of the Soviet Union was pronounced in the area. In his memoirs he described the invasion of northern Iran by Soviet troops, including an air raid that killed his cousin in front of his eyes. His travel to Tehran to attend university coincided with a period of relative political liberty and the movement to regain control of Iran's oil resources from colonial powers. Abolhassan Zia-Zarifi helped organize the