Sevim Tekeli (22 December 1924 – 16 December 2019) was a prominent Turkish history of science professor.

Early life and education

Sevim Tekeli was born in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

in 1924. She received primary education in different cities of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, since her father Osman Nuri Tekeli was working as a governor in various provinces. She is a graduate of American Girls' High School of Üsküdar. She obtained a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy at

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

. She was attracted to the history of science during her undergraduate studies under the influence of Aydin Sayili.

Academic career

Sevim Tekeli began her career as a research assistant of Prof. Dr. Aydın Sayılı at the Department of Philosophy in Ankara University in 1952.

Works

Sevim Tekeli's works mainly focus on the history of Ottoman astronomy, particularly on the studied by the famous astronomer Taqi al Din. When Professor Tekeli started her doctoral studies, it was very hard to find any scientific study and materials in

concerning the history of Ottoman science. She determined to overcome such problems. Eventually, Tekeli overcame all these challenges and completed her doctoral thesis, "The comparison of the observational instruments of Nasir al Din al Tûsî, Tycho Brahe and Taqi al Din", under the supervision of Aydın Sayılı in 1956. Her doctoral thesis in which she made comparisons between Nasir al Din al Tûsî,

Tycho Brahe Tycho Brahe ( ; ; born Tyge Ottesen Brahe, ; 14 December 154624 October 1601), generally called Tycho for short, was a Danish astronomer of the Renaissance, known for his comprehensive and unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations. He ...

and Taqi al Din in terms of observational instruments they had used was later published with the same title. She was also interested in the development of scientific endeavour in the 17th century

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

and also, in comparing the developments in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

at the time and in the Ottoman Empire in terms of scientific activities and achievements. She also examined the effects of the Ottoman Empire on

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. She particularly analyzed the reasons behind the superiority and leadership of the Ottoman Empire in the Islamic World at the beginning of the 17th century. She continued her research on Taqi al Din and published another book, ''The Brightest Stars of Construction of the Mechanical Clocks'' that was based on her professorial thesis. In this book, she revealed that Taqi al Din was one of the most important

astronomers An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either observ ...

of the 16th century. She has also studies concerning the map of Piri Reis and Muhyi al Din. She was one of the earliest Turkish scholars uncovering the astronomy activities during the period of Ottomans.

Articles

Some of her articles are given below: *(1970)
Al Urdi's Article on the Quality of the Observations
''Araştırma'' 8. *(1980
The Observational Instruments of Istanbul Observatory
''Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Observatories in Islam'', pp. 33,43. *(1985)
The map of America by Pîrî Reîs
''New Dictionary of Scientific Biography.'' *(2008)

''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. *(2008)

''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. *(2008)

''Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography''.

Books

(1975). ''Modern bilimin doğuşunda Bizansʾın etkisi? = Is there any impact of Byzantine on the emergence of modern science?'', First Edition, Ankara: Kalite Publishing. (1985). ''İlk Japon haritasını çizen Türk Kaşgarlı Mahmud ve Kristof Kolomb'un haritasına dayanarak en eski Amerika Haritasını çizen Türk Amiralı Piri Reis = The oldest map of Japan drawn by a Turk Mahmud of Kashgar and the map of America by Piri Reis'', Ankara: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi. (2002). ''16’ıncı yüzyılda Osmanlılarda saat ve Takiyüddin’in “mekanik saat konstrüksüyonuna dair en parlak yıldızlar = The clocks in Ottoman Empire in 16th century and Taqi al Din’s the brightest stars for the construction of the mechanical clocks.'' Second edition, Ankara: T. C. Kültür Bakanlıgi. Tekeli, Sevim et al. (2007). ''Bilim tarihine giriş = An introduction to the history of science'', Ankara: Nobel Publishing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tekeli, Sevim 20th-century Turkish historians 20th-century Turkish women writers 20th-century Turkish writers 21st-century Turkish historians 1924 births 2019 deaths Ankara University alumni Historians of science Historians of Turkey Academic staff of Ankara University Science in the medieval Islamic world Turkish women historians Women science writers