Transfer of Knowledge betw. Austria and Iran: Jacob E. Polak

The focus of this research project is the life and intercultural influence of the Austrian physician and ethnographer Jacob Eduard Polak (1818-1891). At the outset of modernization in Iran in 1851, Polak organised the establishment of the first modern school of medicine in Tehran where he taught anatomy and surgery. He learned the Persian language and wrote textbooks and manuscripts for his Iranian pupils. In 1855 Polak was appointed as royal physician at the court of Naser al-Din Shâh Qajar. Alongside his official duties he carried out socio-cultural and natural science research. After his return from Iran in 1860, Polak was active within various scientific, administrative, diplomatic, economic and cultural circles in Austria. Polak`s pursuits had a long lasting positive influence on the many reciprocal relations between the Habsburg Empire and Iran. In 1865 he published a comprehensive ethnography on Iran that has become a definitive book and is consulted by historians to this day. In cooperation with the Academy of Science and the Natural History Museum in Vienna he organized and sponsored scientific expeditions to Iran. Polak`s diverse activities were embedded within a network of scientific institutions, economic and political organisations, and he also collaborated with individuals from other countries. Despite the broad impact and lasting effect of his achievements, there is up to the present day no complete critical study of his person and work. The goal of this project is to document Polak`s varied accomplishments, to analyse and to emphasize his role as a intercultural mediator. A good deal of the sources for the proposed research consist of previously unanalysed written material, such as monographs and articles in various languages, which will be examined, along with unpublished documents in several archives in Austria, Israel, Iran and the Czech Republic. The principal theme of this study is Polak`s essential role as a pioneer in the transfer of knowledge and culture between Austria and Iran in the second half of the 19th century. The important questions are: which criteria did Polak use in the selection of what he considered useful knowledge? To what degree did he act as mediator? In what way did the transfer process proceed? The research project is based upon the method and theory of current cultural studies approaches, including Transfer Research, a concept developed in France and Germany in the 1980`s.

This project examines the life and writings of the physician Jacob Eduard Polak and provides a unique case study of the transfer of Viennese medical practice from Austria to Iran in middle of the 19th century. The doctor was born into a Jewish family near Prague in 1818, and died in Vienna in 1891. In 1851, at a time when Russia, Great Britain and France were competing to gain political and economic hegemony in Iran, Polak was commissioned by the Iranian government to teach anatomy and surgery at Dar ol-Fonun, the first secular school of higher learning in the country. Through his unpolitical professional engagement, he introduced modern medical science to Iran based upon the principles of the Vienna School of Medicine, and this several decades before the modern medicine had a broader worldwide effect. In 1855, Polak was appointed as Naser al-Din Shahs personal physician, which gave him high social standing and indeed, important influence at the Qajar court that later proved to be useful for Austrian interests. The goals of this project were to examine all documents by and about Polak - the majority unpublished in archives in Vienna, Jerusalem, Teheran and Prague and for the first time to systematically record and analyze their content to bring visibility and accessibility to Polak as a key figure in the process and dynamics of knowledge transfer between Austria and Iran. Using the theoretical framework of Transfer theory, Polaks role as a reciprocal mediator in intercultural as well as intracultural exchange is emphasized. The research results are presented in four articles, as well as the monograph in German: Briefe aus Persien: Jacob Eduard Polaks Berichte über sein Wirken in Iran in Wiener medizinischen Zeitschriften; Ein Beitrag zur Transferforschung. The monograph illuminates a crucial chapter in the History of Medicine in the 19th century by focusing on Polaks transfer of medical knowledge and innovation between the two countries, and exploring the reception his work received as well as the effects on his professional career. It is important to note that Polaks accomplishments went beyond his work as a physician. He identified with the progressive ideals and liberal spirit of Austrian society at the time and conducted his observations and study of Iran as a humanist scholar; his writings were meant as contributions to the newly forming Natural Sciences. A fresh consideration of his well- known book Persien: das Land und seine Bewohner shows it has less in common with travel literature about the Orient, but is rather an early work within the nascent field of ethnography. Upon his return to Vienna in 1860, he was active in the Imperial and Royal Geographic Society and helped founding the Anthropological Society. Polak`s botanical, zoological and mineralogical collections enriched the museums of the Habsburg Empire and through his work as an advisor and commissioner for the World Exposition in Vienna in 1873, regular diplomatic and economic relations between the countries were initiated. The present analysis of Polaks diverse achievements shows clearly that not only systems and institutions but also individuals have a significant impact upon larger historical processes. The research conducted in this FWF project contributes considerably to a model for social biography, especially within the context of biography and interculturality. The project was carried out according to historical and socio-cultural methodologies.