Every few years, I see someone reminding us about the rocket a Lebanese professor called Manoug Manougian created some 50 years back at the Haigazian University. The rocket was called Cedar 3 and made it into the thermosphere reaching an altitude of 145 kilometres. [Link]

It apparently caught the attention of the US and Soviet Union at the time who sent cultural attaches to see what the Lebanese scientist had done.

This year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first rocket launch, artists and film-makers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige have created a set of installations that tell the story of, and reflect on, the Lebanese rocket launches in one of the largest art shows in the Middle East, the Sharjah Bennial 10. [Sharjah Bennial 10]

It is quite sad that we haven’t heard of any valuable invention by a Lebanese scientist since then, as if history has stopped for us back in 1966.