Rachid Idrissi

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Rachid Idrissi
رشيد الإدريسي
Idrissi, c. 1970
Born1939 (1939)
Outat El Haj, Morocco
DiedOctober 18, 1971(1971-10-18) (aged 31–32)
Salé, Morocco
Alma materUniversity of Paris
Known forRecovery of uranium in phosphate
Scientific career
FieldsNuclear chemistry
ThesisContribution à l'étude de l'interface reactionelle en cinétique hétérogéne, fluoration de monocristaux de UO2 (1970)
Doctoral advisorPierre Laffitte

Moulay Rachid Idrissi (Arabic: مولاي رشيد الإدريسي; 1939 – October 18, 1971) was a Moroccan nuclear chemist and engineer. Idrissi gained notoriety after his work on the recovery of uranium from phosphates, where he discovered a significant amount of uranium in Moroccan phosphates. Shortly after this discovery, he died in a traffic accident near Rabat, the circumstances of which remain contested.

Early life and education[edit]

The Collège d'Azrou, where Idrissi studied, photographed in 1930

Moulay Rachid Idrissi was born in 1939 in the Douar Oulad Belhlou near the town of Outat El Haj, near Taza.[1][2][3] His family claimed descendance from the Idrisid dynasty.[1][3]

He studied in the town throughout primary school where he obtained his Certificate of Primary Education before studying at the prestigious Collège d'Azrou.[4][2][5] After obtaining his scientific baccalaureate from the collège, he moved to Rabat and continued his studies in chemistry.[6][1][7]

As a young man, Idrissi worked on development projects in his hometown of Outat El Haj, coordinating with UNESCO to build a youth house in the village.[6][3] He had also worked to establish an agricultural cooperative near the Moulouya River and a preparatory high school in the village.[1][7] In 1970, Idrissi held a ceremony and handed out prizes to outstanding students from his hometown.[7]

With the help of classmate Mohamed Chafik, Idrissi pursued his studies in France.[2] He obtained a Doctorate of Science in nuclear chemistry in 1970 from the Faculty of Science at the University of Paris after doing research regarding electrophilic fluorination of uranium dioxide at the Zoé reactor in Fontenay-aux-Roses.[6][8][9] He also obtained a degree in chemical engineering from the National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology in Saclay.[6][3]

Scientific career[edit]

Throughout his career, he rejected offers made to him by foreign laboratories and other parties.[6][1][7] After returning to Morocco, Idrissi gained an interest in politics and was an ardent trade unionist and adopted Third-Worldism.[6][1][10] He became a community activist and a politician under the banner of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces.[2][3]

He became a professor at the Mohammadia School of Engineering and moved to Safi, where he conducted research in a number of laboratories in the late 1960s.[4][6] Idrissi's field of research focused on the recovery of uranium from phosphates, which was Morocco's biggest export.[6][11] During his research, he mapped the Ganntour basin and its uranium repartition.[12]

In 1968, he discovered a significant amount of uranium in Moroccan phosphates, which he announced to local press.[6][10][3] Idrissi had estimated that about 72 thousand tons of uranium could be extracted annually as a low-cost byproduct from Moroccan phosphates.[6][1][10] The media praised his discovery, and he supplied data regarding his findings to the IAEA.[6][1][10]

Death and legacy[edit]

Rachid Idrissi died on October 18, 1971, in Salé in a car accident after being hit by a truck on National Road 15 while crossing a bridge on Bou Regreg from Rabat on his way to his hometown of Outat El Haj.[1][4][2] His sudden death immediately raised suspicion of a political assassination from his entourage.[6][1][11] He was buried in the cemetery in Douar El Kchahda, near Outat El Haj.[7]

During a speech at his funeral, engineer Mohamed Ait Kaddour, a colleague of Idrissi, stated that he fell victim to "his involvement in establishing a defense project in the Arab world based on his possession of science, knowledge, and ability".[10] A scholar in Idrissi's hometown, Hajj Mohamed Harmouche, blamed his death on "external parties".[6] Newspaper Al Ittihad Al Ichtiraki claimed that Idrissi had been surveilled by foreign intelligence agencies prior to his death, but this remains unconfirmed.[10]

A posthumous Rachid Idrissi El Ouatati Prize for Criticism was created in May 2023 by the Oboure Cultural Publishing Association in Rabat, the prize crowns works of literary criticism in Morocco and commemorates Idrissi.[13][14] In December 2023, a synopsium was held by the Moulay Rachid Idrissi Center for Studies and Research in Outat El Haj regarding Idrissi's life.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Doukalli, S. (2023-09-27). "رشيد الإدريسي.. المغربي الذي استخرج اليورانيوم من الفوسفاط" [Rachid Idrissi...the Moroccan who extracted uranium from phosphate]. Morocco Times (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-11-05.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ameskane, Mohamed (2014-07-01). "Destin Brisés: Inoubliables figures marocaines". VH Magazine (131). Le cas Rachid Idrissi: 43.
  3. ^ a b c d e f عيسى, عربي، (2004). مدينة إفران: جوهرة الأطلس المتوسط ومحيطها عبر التاريخ [The city of Ifrane: the jewel of the Middle Atlas and its surroundings throughout history] (in Arabic). دار أبي رقراق للطباعة والنشر،. pp. 712–713. ISBN 978-9954-423-34-9.
  4. ^ a b c Benhlal, Mohamed (2005-03-01). Le collège d'Azrou. La formation d'une élite berbère civile et militaire au Maroc (in French). Paris: KARTHALA Editions. p. 371. ISBN 978-2-8111-3914-8.
  5. ^ Benhlal, Mohamed. "La grève du 5 février 1944". Association des anciens élèves du collège d'Azrou. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m El Alaoui El Bahi, M'hammed (2014). الدكتور عبد الهادي التازي في تاريخ تازة [Dr. Abdelhadi Tazi in the history of Taza]. Rabat. ISBN 978-9981-1627-2-3.
  7. ^ a b c d e f "اوطاط الحاج تحتضن ندوة علمية حول حياة ومسار عطاء العالم النووي المغربي مولاي رشيد الادريسي" [Outat El Hajj hosts a scientific symposium on the life and path of giving of the Moroccan scholar Moulay Rachid Idrissi]. جريدة أصوات (in Arabic). 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2024-01-06.
  8. ^ Idrissi, Dr. Rachid (1970-12-08). Contribution à l'étude de l'interface reactionelle en cinétique hétérogéne, fluoration de monocristaux de UO2 (PDF) (PhD thesis). Faculté des sciences de l'université de Paris.
  9. ^ Idrissi, Rachid; Tivadar, Kikindai; Bernard, Auguin; Daniel, Vigner (1970). "New intermediate phases revealed by the in situ fluorination of uranium oxide UO2 in a fast electron diffractometer". Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. 270 (9): 765–768.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Dokha, Mohamed (2002-07-30). "المهندس رشيد الإدريسي أول كيميائي مغربي يستخرج اليورانيوم من الفسفاط" [Engineer Rachid Idrissi is the first Moroccan chemist to extract uranium from phosphate]. Al Ittihad Al Ichtiraki. No. 6928.
  11. ^ a b Rahmani Yalaoui, Mohamed (2015-05-21). "تَازَا التِّي لاَ يَعْرِفُهَا تْوَازَا" [Taza, whom Taza does not know]. تازا سيتي.
  12. ^ Jeanmaire, Jean-Paul (1993-01-01). "Répartition de l'uranium dans les niveaux phosphatés Maastrichtien supérieur - Eocène inférieur de la partie occidentale du bassin des Ganntour (Maroc occidental). Derniers résultats" (PDF). Mines, Géologie & Énergie (53). Rabat: 2.
  13. ^ "جائزة "المهندس الوطاطي" تتوّج كتب النقد" [The “Engineer El Ouatati” award crowns the books of criticism]. Hespress (in Arabic). 2023-07-05. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
  14. ^ "تتويج عدد من كُتاب الأدب المغربي - قوس تيفي" [Crowning a number of Moroccan literary writers] (in Arabic). 2023-07-07. Retrieved 2023-11-05.
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