Mathematician, scholar
of mechanics (B. Istanbul, 1 February 1894 – D. Istanbul, 29 December 1952).
After completing Istanbul High School of Engineering (1914)
he completed his PhD in Berlin
University under the
supervision of Albert Einstein (1919). He is the first Turkish mathematician to
achieve the degree of PhD. Upon his return to Turkey he started to work in the
school he graduated from as academic member. He was a
member of the council to prepare the university reform. He undertook duties of
analysis professorship and deanship in Istanbul University,
Faculty of Science which was recently established. In the same time he
continued giving lectures in High
School of Engineering.
When the High School of Engineering was transformed into Istanbul Technical
University he left his duty here and
continued his works only within Istanbul
University. Later he
became a professor in
ordinary here. Between the years 1940-52 he presided the Institute of Mathematics,
connected to Istanbul
University, Faculty of
Science.
Erim, as one of the
founders of mathematics of republic period and an international figure of it,
pioneered the education of differential and integral calculations and mathematical
analysis methods in our country. He was not contented with his educational
works in these fields, but he also started mathematical researches. Having the
international quality of science as his starting point, he emphasized the need
for international scientific publishing. Through his institutional researches
and scientific publications he institutionalized it for the first time and
turned it into practice.
Kerim Erim played an
efficient role in spreading the education of high mathematics and establishing
modern mathematics in Turkey.
He also made researches on the relations of mathematics and physics with
philosophy and is the author of numerous works in German and Turkish languages.
With his works, he tried to establish a Turkish school in mathematics. He
created abroad education possibilities for skilled students and attempted to
raise a generation of young mathematicians. He contributed to leaning the
science of mechanics to mathematical fundaments in Turkey. He
made it possible in 1952 that the VIII.
Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics was assembled in Istanbul.
MAIN WORKS:
Über die Trägheitsformen eines Modulsystems (On the Status Quo of a Module System, 1928); Nazari Hesap
(1931), Mihanik
(1934), Über eine neue Definition
des mehrdimen-sionalen Integrals (On a New Definition Regarding
Multi-Dimension Integrals, 1941), Diferansiyel
ve integral hesap (1945), Über höhere
Differentialelemente einer Regelfläche und einer Raumkurve (On the Highly
Detailed Elements of an Extension Curve and a Base Level, 1945), Analiz Dersleri,
Diferansiyel ve İntegral Hesap (1945).
REFERENCE: Ana Biritannica Genel Kültür Ansiklopedisi (c. 8,
1985), Osman Bahadır / Matematikte Bir Öncü (2006), Büyük Larousse (c. 6, s. 3770, 1986),
Türkiye Ansiklopedisi (c.2, s. 591, 1974), Osman Bahadır / Matematikte Bir Öncü
Kerim Erim (2006), İhsan
Işık / Ünlü Bilim Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) -
Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
