Professor Zabta Khan Shinwari, President of the Pakistan Science Academy and the winner of the fourth international award of UNESCO with the subject “Ethics in the Scientific Achievements of Avicenna”, visited Shiraz University for a speech at the Mostafavi Conference Hall.

The recognized Pakistani scientist spoke a few words on the significance of ethics in scientific and technological improvements. He noted that “to pursue the requirements and needs of the human race is a main objective all scientists should follow and the footprints of scientific achievements must be clear in our lives”.

This expert of agricultural and botanical sciences and also the head of Biotechnological Department of Islamabad University further stated “Science has a positive side and a negative side and scientific improvements minus ethical values can destroy and sabotage human existence. In this sense, ethics is a crucial subject for all scientific fields and university students and scholars should also study the ethical priorities of the science they have engaged in”. He later gave examples of scientific achievements which have turned their back on moral issues and how they have negatively affected the human existence. A very clear example is the atomic bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the biological bombardment of Palestinians by Israel.

Professor Shinwari also pointed out the significant stand Shiraz University possesses in the civilized structure of Iran and hoped that Shiraz University, with a handful of outstanding professors, would take a greater role in the penetration of this debate among the society.

The meeting came to an end with some questions which were answered by professor Shinwari.