Mohamed El-Amin Ahmed El-Tom

Mohamed El-Amin Ahmed El-Tom (; born October 1941), also known as Muhammad Al-Amin Al-Tom, is a Sudanese mathematician and the first Minister of Education after the Sudanese Revolution, serving between 2019 and 2022. During his tenure, he worked on various initiatives to improve education in Sudan, including the development of a comprehensive plan for the sector. However, El-Tom and his assistant, Omer al-Qarray, faced controversy over the inclusion of Michelangelo's famous painting, The Creation of Adam, in Sudanese school textbooks. The decision was met with strong opposition from some conservative Muslim groups, who argued that the image of God reaching out to Adam in the painting was inconsistent with Islamic beliefs and should not be included in textbooks. Early life and education Mohamed El-Amin Ahmed El-Tom was born in October 1941. He completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from the University of Leeds with first class honours in 1965. This was followed by a Diploma in Advanced Mathematics from the University of Oxford in 1966 taking courses on Numerical Analysis, Functional Analysis, Group Theory, and Commutative Algebra. He then completed a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1969, supervised by . Academic career After his bachelor's, El-Tom became a junior scholar at the University of Khartoum (1962-65). Following his DPhil, he returned as a senior scholar between 1965 and 1968, where he helped establish the Mathematical Sciences School. Subsequently, he took on a position as a research fellow at the Center de Calcul, University of Louvain, Belgium (1968-69). El-Tom advanced in his academic career, serving as a lecturer at the University of Ulster and later as a professor at Columbia University. His expertise also led him to roles at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Qatar University, and the Sudan Centre for Educational Research. Subsequently, he was appointed as the dean of the University of Garden City. Research