astronomy

Mahmoud Hafith

Mahmoud Hafith is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mahmoud Hafith rather than just read about it. In short: Mahmoud Hafith (Arabic: محمود حافظ; January 10, 1912 – December 23, 2011) was a pioneering Egyptian scientist in entomology and former president of the Egyptian Scientific Academy and the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo. He was the first Egyptian to obtain a doctorate in entomology, and the second Egyptian to combine the presidency of the Arabic Language Academy and the Academic of sciences, after the Dean of Arabi…

Key takeaways

Mahmoud Hafith belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mahmoud Hafith to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mahmoud Hafith from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mahmoud Hafith (Arabic: محمود حافظ; January 10, 1912 – December 23, 2011) was a pioneering Egyptian scientist in entomology and former president of the Egyptian Scientific Academy and the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo. He was the first Egyptian to obtain a doctorate in entomology, and the second Egyptian to combine the presidency of the Arabic Language Academy and the Academic of sciences, after the Dean of Arabic Literature, Taha Hussein. He died one week after the fire at the Egyptian Scientific Institute, following protests in Cairo.

Early life and education Hafith was born on January 10, 1912, to a family with a long history in the struggle against British colonialism. His father established what was known as the "Kingdom of Faraskour", which was formed in Damietta to expel the English, and he was forced to sell all his possessions to spend on national work, until the Egyptian leader Saad Zaghloul paid 50 pounds to help his son complete his education. Hafith began his education at Farskour kuttab, where he memorized the Qur’an. However, he left the school and moved to Cairo to complete his education at the Saeidia High School at his mother's wishes. He graduated from the Faculty of Science, Cairo University, in 1935 and was appointed as a lecturer. He obtained a master's degree in 1938, and then a doctorate degree in entomology in 1940, becoming the first Egyptian to do so. He continued his research at the University of London and the University of Cambridge in 1953, where he was appointed as a Chair Professor of the Department of Entomology. When he returned to Cairo, he was appointed as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Science in 1964.

Career Hafith contributed to the establishment of the Department of Insects and Plant Protection at the National Research Center and worked on developing it and preparing its researchers and a research unit at the Atomic Energy Authority and the Regional Center for Radioisotopes. He contributed to developing the Vector Research Institute at the Ministry of Health, by setting up research programs for it, overseeing its implementation, and preparing scientific cadres. He also participated in the planning of research at the level of the Republic during his tenure as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Scientific Research, and participated in more than fifty international conferences in biological sciences, entomology and pest control, as well as in the history of science. He has also given many lectures at European, American, African and Asian universities as a visiting professor there In addition to this scientific study, he worked as Secretary General of the Islamic Hidaya Association with the late Sheikh Muhammad Al-Khader Hussein, Sheikh of the former Al-Azhar Mosque for seventeen years.

Academic of sciences Hafith was appointed as an undersecretary for the Supreme Council for Scientific Research in 1968, after which he returned as head of the entomology department until 1972, when he became a full-time professor at the college. In 1977, he was chosen as an expert in the Academic of sciences in the committee of biology and agricultural sciences. Since his appointment as a member of the Scientific Academy, Hafith has actively contributed to the activity of the Academy, in its council and conference, and in the work of the committees for which he works as a rapporteur, namely the Committee of Biological Sciences and Agriculture, the Committee of Chemistry and Pharmacy, as well as his membership in the Awards Committee and the Geology and Petroleum Committees. On March 21, 1977, the day of Hafith's reception, Dr. Mahmoud Mukhtar remarked about him: "A bright figure who carried the torch of knowledge and education for a long time with faithfulness and adequacy, and was encrusted with pearls of the true religion and the blessed Arabic language."

Academy of the Arabic Language Hafith's involvement in the Arabic Language Academy goes back to 1956, when he was cooperating with Nazir Bey, a member of the Academy, in translating some terms into Arabic. Then he was chosen as an expert in the complex in 1964. Hafith participated in many council committees before he was unanimously elected vice president of the council in 1996. He then succeeded Shawqi Deif in chairing the council in 2005 after another unanimous election. Through the Arabic Language Academy, Hafith conducted dozens of studies on scientific dictionaries, the Arabization of science, and participated in translating and Arabizing thousands of terms through the committees of biology, agriculture, chemistry, pharmacy, and oil. Hafith defended Arabic from the accusation that it does not understand modern sciences, considering it a "falsehood", and called for the continuous effort to Arabize sciences, including medicine. He also warned of the widening gap between the new generations and the Arabs, considering the reason for this to be the spread of foreign schools that are not interested in Arabic.

Activities at the national level Vice president of the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo until 2005, then its president until his death in 2011. President of the Egyptian Scientific Academy until his death. He is the only Egyptian who presided over the two societies (the Academy of the Arabic Language and the Egyptian Scientific Academy) at the same time. Member of the National Council for Education and Scientific Research. Member of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology Council. President of the Egyptian Society for the History of Science. President of the Egyptian Society of Entomology. President of the Egyptian General Scientific Society (Egyptian Scientific Union). Chairman of the National Committee for Biological Sciences at the Academy. Chairman of the AASTMT's State Awards Appreciation Committee and Mubarak Prize in Basic Sciences. Member of the Egyptian Society for Scientific Culture and former president. Member of the Egyptian Academy of Sciences and former president. Founding member of the Egyptian Society of Parasitology and former president.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mahmoud Hafith

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mahmoud Hafith claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mahmoud Hafith before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mahmoud Hafith ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mahmoud Hafith

In research: Mahmoud Hafith appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mahmoud Hafith in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mahmoud Hafith is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1912 births, 2011 deaths, Academic staff of Cairo University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mahmoud Hafith outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mahmoud Hafith in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mahmoud Hafith means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mahmoud Hafith out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mahmoud Hafith in simple terms?

Why does Mahmoud Hafith matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mahmoud Hafith?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mahmoud Hafith.