Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Active member of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Mammad Arif Maharram oglu Dadashzadeh was born on June 10, 1904 in Baku.

He graduated from the Baku State Institute of Public Education and Eastern faculty of ASU (1920-1925).He was a post-graduate student at the Soviet-East People's Scientific Research Institute in Moscow (1925-1928).

He defended his Ph.D.(1944), doctor (1954) dissertations, became professor (1955). He was elected corresponding member of AAS (1955) and an active member (1958).

He worked as a senior lecturer, assistant professor of the Russian Literature department of the Azerbaijan Pedagogical Institute, head of the department of Russian Literature of ASU (1932-1938), senior research fellow at the Institute of Literature and Language of the USSR AS’s Azerbaijan branch (1938-1939), director (1939-1950, 1957) ,editor-in-chief of "For the Fatherland" (1941-1945), Deputy Minister of Education of Azerbaijan (1946). Academician-Secretary of the Social Sciences Department of Azerbaijan AS (1959), then Vice President of the AAS (1960-1975). Chairman of the Terminology Committee under the Presidium of the Azerbaijan AS (1957-1975), Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Azerbaijan (1963-1967).

M.Arif's high scientific-theoretical activity, the sense of scientific objectivity have raised Azerbaijani literary and criticism to a qualitatively new level.

M.Arif was a scientist and theorist, who investigated and systematically studied various stages of our literature, provided great services in the field of literary relations, scientifically solved important theoretical and methodological problems, developed the theoretical foundations of criticism. For the first time he wrote "History of Soviet Literature in Azerbaijan" (1944).

The scientist's monographs "Jafar Jabbarly's creative way" (1956) and "Samad Vurgun's drama" (1964), "Literature of the Azerbaijani people" (1958), "History of Azerbaijan literature" (1972) are one of the fundamental works of our national literary criticism. The publication of two-volume "History of Azerbaijani Literature" (1943-1944), three-volume "History of Azerbaijan Literature" (1957-1960), "Azerbaijan Historical essays of Soviet Literature" (1963), "Azerbaijani Soviet Literature History" (1967) is related to the name of M.Arif and his scientific activity. M.Arif was a member of the Scientific Council on the Complex Problems of “Development of World Literature in the Contemporary Age” of the USSR Academy of Sciences, within editorial board of the 9th edition of the Literature Encyclopedia, and the editorial staff of the six-volume "Multinational Soviet Literature History" as an author.

He was awarded with medals such as Honored Scientist (1960), laureate of the Azerbaijan State Prize (1974), Lenin Order (1971), twice the Red Banner Order (1939-1964), October Revolution Order (1974) .

Academician Mammad Arif Dadashzadeh died in Baku in 1975 and was buried in the Alley of Honor. (1904-1975)