TEHRAN -- Akbar Etemad, a physicist and the first head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization often referred to as the “father of Iran’s nuclear program” passed away in Paris on Friday at the age of 95.
The construction of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant began during his tenure.
Etemad founded and served as the first head of the AEOI but resigned in 1978, shortly before the Islamic Revolution.
He continued his studies in electrical engineering at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland before the revolution.
Later, he worked at the Atomic Research Center of the Swiss Federal Institute. The result of his research was a doctoral thesis that he submitted to the Swiss Polytechnic University and was consulted by the International Atomic Energy Agency due to his expertise.
He returned to Iran in 1965 and a year later established the Atomic Energy Office of the Planning and Budget Organization and was tasked with managing it, a position he held until 1967.
In 1968, Etemad was appointed as the first head of the Institute for Scientific and Educational Research and Planning, the Iranian equivalent of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France.
In 1974, he took over as head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran after founding the organization. 
Muhammad Eslami, head of the the AEOI, as well as Ali Akbar Salehi, former director of the organization, offered condolences over  Etemad’s passing, saying with his unparalleled foresight, sincerity, and honesty, he laid such a solid foundation in the nuclear industry and technology that now Iran proudly and forcefully carries forward all of this precious legacy.
Etemad lived in France at the time of his death.