Mirza Taghi Khan Amir Kabir

Mirza Taghi Khan Amir Kabir (1807–1852) was the Chief Minister (Sadr-e Azam) of Iran under Naser al-Din Shah Qajar from 1848 to 1851, universally revered as Iran's first modern reformist statesman. Born the son of a palace cook, his brilliant intellect impressed the crown prince, who sponsored his education and diplomatic training on missions to Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire.

During his brief three-year ministry, Amir Kabir executed an astonishing modernization program: he eliminated massive treasury deficits, purged corrupt courtiers, introduced mandatory smallpox vaccination across Iran, and published Iran's first official state newspaper (Vaqaye-ye Ettefaqiyeh). His crowning achievement was founding Dar al-Funun in Tehran in 1851, Iran's first modern polytechnic university. Conspiring courtiers and the Queen Mother manipulated the young Shah into dismissing him and ordering his assassination in the Fin Garden bathhouse in Kashan.