Mir Mohsun Navvab, a scholar, musician, historian, literary critic, and peda-gogue, who occupied a prominent place in the history of science and culture of Azerbaijan, was born in 1833 in Shusha. He got involved in science and literature since his early youth, and actively participated in the public and cultural life of Karabakh. Navvab, who set a chemistry laboratory and small observatory in his home, published a textbook "Kifayatul-atfaal" [The Competence of Children] in 1899 on the basis of the experiments and observations carried out there together with his students. This was the first teaching resource on astronomy professionally developed in Azerbaijan in that period. The school established by M.Navvab stood out from the majority of other teaching centers at that time, giving education both in classical (i.e the study of theology, Persian and Arabic) and secular sciences. This outstanding scholar, who appreciated the development of enlightenment and education, expressed his peda-gogical views in his works "Nurul-anvar" [The Light of the Lights] and "Nesihetname" [The Book of Admonitions].