Ishaq Shahryar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ishaq M. Shahryar (January 10, 1936 – April 12, 2009) was the Afghan ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2003. He was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, to an ethnic Pashtun family.[1] He arrived to the United States in 1956 on a scholarship to study at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his Bachelor's degree in Physical Chemistry and his Master's in International Relations. He worked as an engineer on solar energy projects for aerospace companies. In 1972, Shahryar invented the low-cost solar (photovoltaic) cells and developed the process for modern day screen-printing (or mass-producing) of cells used in solar energy panels.[citation needed] He was instrumental in the development of ultraviolet sensitive solar cells for the Jupiter Project for NASA. In 1993, he was awarded U.S. patent rights for a 20 percent efficient silicon solar cell. His latest patent is pending for a new solar cell that will reduce the cost of solar cells by 50 percent.[citation needed]

Shahryar founded Solec International, one of the world's leading manufacturers of solar electric technology, and Solar Utility Company, a solar cell engineering, design, marketing and installation company.[citation needed] He also ran a prominent solar energy company in the Los Angeles area, Solar Utility.[citation needed] He has recently founded a new company, Sun King Solar in Los Angeles.

While working in solar energy, in 1994, Shahryar was named to the U.S. Presidential Mission on Sustainable Energy and Trade to India and has acted as an adviser to numerous trade and environmental groups in the United States and abroad.[citation needed]

A longtime associate of former Afghan King Mohammad Zahir Shah, Shahryar represented the government of Hamid Karzai, who became Afghanistan's new president in the summer of 2002.[citation needed] He and his family moved to Washington, D.C. for him to take his position as the first Afghan Ambassador to the United States since 1978. He renounced U.S. citizenship in order to take up the position..[1][2] He worked pro bono and invested much of his own money in the embassy. In 2003, Shahryar resigned due to corruption and major road blocks in the Afghan government.[citation needed]

Death

Shahryar died on April 12, 2009, in Pacific Palisades, California. He left behind a wife, Hafizah, a son named Alexander and a daughter named Jahan.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 MacGregor, Hilary E. (July 04, 2002). "Lessons in Diplomacy at a Historic Dinner Party". Los Angeles Times. "The ambassador, who is Pashtun, demurred." 
  2. ↑ "Ambassador shone as U.S. solar scientist". The Post and Courier. 2002-06-20. Retrieved 2013-04-09. 


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.