The 1970s was a special period in the history of Iran and the country's universities development. In the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Tehran University new ideas were clearly taking place, and there were talks of creating master and doctoral programs in some fields. This vision was derived from both the needs of the country and the up-to-date, skilled, young, and western educated academic staff. The vision of aristocracy and landlordism was fading and the foundation for the development of science and technology was spreading. During my undergraduate and graduate studies in the 1970s, on the second floor of the Department of Irrigation and Reclamation I used to come into contact with two professors from two different social backgrounds. Both of them were among the leaders of their fields in Iran. At the end of the hallway, on the left, was the office of Dr. Abbasqoli Khajeh Nouri (1915-1993), middle-aged, with a firm stature and a proud face. He was a graduate of France and the founder of the Institute of Higher Education of Statistics of Iran.
He was a capable and serious thinker and a survivor of the aristocratic elite. His relations with the students was serious and distanced. On the other hand, at the beginning of the same hallway, on the righthand, located Dr. Ali Khalili (1936-2024) office, a young professor and also a graduate of France, in the field of meteorology. With his up-to-date knowledge, high ability to transfer scientific concepts to students and carry out national projects he played an extensive role in transferring the knowledge of meteorology, climatology and agricultural meteorology to his students. With an open mind, an exemplary memory, an eloquent pen, a unique wisdom, mastery of Iranian culture, and respect for colleagues and students, he became an exemplary memorial for everyone. These abilities led him to become a fellow of the Iranian Academy of Sciences in 2004.
The need for the development of the country, especially in the fields of science and technology, with the pioneering of the Tehran University, prompted Dr. Khalili to launch the first postgraduate course in agricultural meteorology at the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Tehran University, in the Department of Irrigation and Reclamation in Karaj.  With his 60 years of continuous and brilliant work, he was influential in nurturing exemplary graduates in the field of agricultural meteorology. It can be said with fearlessness that the origin of the development of education and research in the postgraduate program in agricultural meteorology in the country was the University of Tehran and its core, Dr. Ali Khalili.
Dr. Khalili's scientific, research, and managerial record is long and does not fit into this article. In short, his brilliant scientific services can be mentioned as the following national projects: 1) Supervision and leadership of weather and climatological studies in the comprehensive water plan of Iran (Jamab plan), 2) development of a climatic classification method in accordance with the climates of Iran (De Martonne – expanded), 3) Studies of "Climate of Settlement and Comfort" in the physical plan of Iran, and 4) Climate zoning plan of Iran from the perspective of insurance of agricultural and horticultural products.
Since the second half of the 2000s, with the expansion of scientific research in the field of agricultural meteorology, there was a need for a journal that could make scientific and applied findings in this field available to scholars and agents of agriculture and natural resources. Therefore, with the efforts of the Iranian Society of Irrigation and Water Engineering "Journal of Agricultural Meteorology" under the editorship of Dr. Ali Khalili began (2004) to publish the research achievements of the scholars. The editor-in-chief's headlines express his concerns about the country's shortcomings and needs in the field of climate change and the impact of these changes on agriculture and natural resources. I honor both my professors by remembering and valuing their pioneering in the fields of statistics and metrology. Hoping that we could follow their paths and visions.