Babak Tafreshi
From AstronomyOutreach network
Babak Tafreshi (b. 1978) in Tehran, is the founder and leader of The World At Night (TWAN). Tafreshi is a science jounalist and photographer specializing in images of the night sky with foregrounds of natural landscapes and historic architecture. He has always been fascinated by the universality of the night sky, with the same sky appearing above a variety of landscapes around the world. His work has been exhibited in several countries and has appeared in international magazines.
From 1997 to 2007 Tafreshi served as editor and editor-in-chief of the Astronomy Magazine of Iran (Nojum), the only popular astronomy magazine in the Middle East. He has appeared many times on television and radio programs on astronomy and has met and interviewed many world-renowned astronomers and space scientists.
Outreach
Babak communicates with world-wide astronomy community through science journalism and his TWAN trips and imaging workshops in various countries, and he regularly gives presentations during his expeditions to solar eclipses observing sites. Astronomy and TWAN imaging has taken him to all of the continents including Antarctica. He has been a board member of the Astronomical Society of Iran's Amateur Committee from 2001 and has organized and directed many national astronomy events, including Iran's annual national Messier Marathon. Through TWAN which was designated as the first Special Project of 2009 International Year of Astronomy, Tafreshi cooperated with the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO as one of the project coordinators for IYA2009. He has appeared many times on television and radio programs on astronomy and has met and interviewed many world-renowned astronomers and space scientists.
Awards and Recognition
Babak received the 2009 Lennart Nilsson Award, the world’s most recognized award for scientific photography, for his global contribution to night sky photography.