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Description

Photo Credit: Reaching Out by Dieter C, on Deviant Art. If you do not give permission for your image to be used here, kindly inform me and I will remove it promptly.

Dr. David Almontaser is a diminutive man, shorter than the vast majority of people, causing him to have to look up and others to look down when in conversation, except when lecturing from a podium, of course. He has thick white hair, with some silvery strands, combed carefully back. David's prominent features are a widow's peak at the center of his receding hairline, and high, sharp cheekbones. In relief, his deep-set, grey eyes often betray his emotions. With almond-shaped eyes and olive-toned skin, David appears to be of Iranian descent. His face is marked by crow's feet around her eyes, and deeply furrowed frown lines. Typically, he dresses in slacks and collared shirts with a tie. For formal occasions, he will wear a suit and tie.

For those who have seen one of the many posters advertising his lectures, or appearances at conferences, David's face is instantly recognizable, as an icon of his mathematical prowess and prominence in his field, though the name or the identity belonging to the face may not be immediately recalled by the casual observer. Such wanted posters commonly appear on practically any major university's campus bulletin boards, as well as around other community centers where he has been invited to lecture. The 2009 author photograph from his recent book, Unveiling the Mysteries of Euler, is the one most often displayed on newscasts and in newspaper articles, when David is mentioned.

Personality

History

Born in 1930, David Basam Almontaser was the first child of Shasta Almontaser, a dissident Uighur journalist, and Dr. Beatrice Anandini, an expatriate philosophy professor working in China as a visiting lecturer (where women were integrated into the workforce per Maoist ideas). David was sent to West Nottingham Academy from childhood, where he was a boarding student. He graduated with highest honors in 1948, going on to attend MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where he was a math major, on a full scholarship for academic excellence. Throughout his schooling experience, David excelled in math and the sciences, but was only mediocre in the humanities.

David received word from his parents in late 1949 that his mother was expecting a child, details unknown. Later, his mother gave birth to a younger sister, Elan Almontaser, in May 1950, but David was never informed. This was while David was an undergraduate student at MIT. At the time, his parents were being hunted by Mao Tsetung, who wanted them executed for dissent propagation. They had fled to the United States where they petitioned for asylum, and Elan was born while they were in Washington DC. The Almontasers decided it was time to go in hiding for everyone except David, who was now on his own. They took Elan and asked Shasta's sister, Sumitra, to raise her. By then, David had lost all contact with his family.

David resumed his life under the assumption that his parents had either abandoned him, or come into worse troubles than any they had faced before. On campus, he became a vocal student leader, serving on the student government council as an outspoken advocate for students' rights and privileges. Among the Mathematics Department, David participated in several major research projects with professors, even during his undergraduate years. Following graduation, David remained at MIT as a graduate student, where he eventually earned his doctorate in applied mathematics. After earning his doctorate, David stayed as a postdoctorate fellow, where he taught classes at first part-time, then as an associate professor on a tenure track, until he was awarded tenure in early 1969.

Meanwhile, his younger sister, now called Tahira Ali was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted List in December 1968. By the time, Ali's name had come to be associated with the terrorist organization Hataf, which developed from a localized network to an international organization that would later rival Al Qaeda in size and influence. Over seventy victims and two dozen terrorist attacks would be personally attributed to David's sister. But because his parents had lost contact with him, David never knew that Ali was in fact his younger sister, despite the fact that their physical appearances seemed to mirror one another in many ways.

In 1971, David married Dr. Sarah Janette Moore, a physicist who taught in the physics department at MIT, after the two worked on a collaborative, inter-departmental research project in conjunction with the engineering department. Together they had five children, the oldest and youngest only ten years apart: Hilkiah James, who would become a Baptist pastor in West Virginia; Mordecai Edwin, a mid-level corporate executive in an international consulting firm; Bilhah Amani, a freelance artist specializing in landscape surrealism whose work was exhibited at a number of local museums and art shows; Hagar Elan, a psychologist specializing in Autism Spectrum Disorders and psychological research; and Reuben Shasta, a military interrogator stationed at Guantanamo Bay.

David became chair of the mathematics department in 1978, by which time he had accumulated several publication credits, honorary degrees, research grants, and fellowships. Sarah, meanwhile, left her teaching position to serve on the Board of Trustees at MIT. By 2007, David had stopped keeping a full time teaching schedule, as it was too draining on his mental health, and taught only one class a semester. At this time, both he and Sarah are preparing for retirement within the next two years. David still serves as Chair of the Mathematics Department. He and Sarah have twelve grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. David recently was made aware of his relationship to Ali as several students have pointed out to him, sometimes rather rudely, that he bears a great resemblance to the fugitive, who also has a widow's peak, and shares his eyes and other facial features.

David Almontaser's Story