Ḥājī Bābā Āfshār was the first Persian doctor to practise modern European medicine. He served as ḥakīm-bāshī (head physician) at the courts of the crown prince, ʿAbbās Mīrzā Nāʾib al-Salṭana (d. 1249/1833) and Muḥammad Shāh Qājār (r. 1250–1264/1834–1848).

Mīrzā Bābā, also known as Mīrzā Ḥājī Bābā Āfshār, was the son of one of the officers of ʿAbbās Mīrzā. He and another young man called Muḥammad Kāẓim were the first Persians to be sent to study in England. ʿAbbās Mīrzā was conscious of a sense of his country’s educational and milita…