Astronomer, meteorologist, the founder of Istanbul
Observatory (B. 1877, Akseki/Antalya - B., 1955, Istanbul). He was known much
more as “Fatin Hodja”. He was the son of Abdülgaffar Efendi and the father of
Sitare Gökmen and astronomer Tarık Gökmen. He completed his primary education
at Akseki and Alanya and secondary education in Bayındır district of Izmir. He
completed the preparatory classes at Fatih Madrasah, Istanbul. While he was studying in the
service of chief astrologer of the time, Hüseyin Hilmi Efendi; because of his interest in astronomy
and mathematics, he drew the attention of Salih Zeki Bey who was one of the
well-known scholars of the period. Upon the encouragement of him, he started to
study at Riyaziye Medresesi (The Faculty of Mathematical Sciences) in 1901. After
graduating from the Riyaziye Medresesi with first place degree in 1904, he
taught mathematics at various schools. He gave lectures on astronomy and probability
calculus at the school he graduated from for a while.
He was the director of the school for some time.
Because he was also interested in politics, he was
one of the founders of the Committee of Union and Progress and he was arrested
for a while. Following the announcement of 2nd Constitutional
Monarchy (1908), he left the politics and turned to science completely. He was
appointed to the directorship of Rasathane-i Amire (T.N. Imperial Observatory)
in 1910 by the Minister of Education during the period of Committee of Union
and Progress, Emrullah Efendi. He was the founder and the first director of the
Kandilli Observatory. The observatory, in fact, had been active since 1868, but
the building and the equipment were destroyed during the March 31 events (13-14
April 1909).
Kandilli Observatory was
founded as Rasathane-i Amire
in Istanbul
with the recommendations of the French Government, and Aristide Coumbary was
the first officer of the organization. After being appointed as the director of
the observatory, at the end of his researches, Mehmet Fatin Bey chose the fire
observation tower
of Istanbul Municipality
which was affiliated to the Artillery Unit of the Bosphorus Commandership,
located at today’s İcadiye hill in Üsküdar and consisted of one tower and two
small chambers. He began to work immediately to the reconstruction works of the
existing buildings with five hundred pieces of gold given by the Minister of Education.
Then, he contacted the manager of the French Meteorological Association, Angot,
and he gave the order for the necessary equipment for a first-class
meteorological station. From the date of July 1, 1911, he launched a continuous
and systematic measurement and record of the meteorological factors with the tools
he had supplied.
When the Turkish Republic
was established, the young government only inherited the Kandilli Observatory
in the field of meteorology. On 19 August 1924, the National Board of Education
decided to affiliate the Kandilli Observatory to Istanbul University,
by converting the observatory into a general directorate. However, Fatin Gökmen
opposed this decision and insisted that Kandilli Observatory would continue its
activities as a separate organization. After that, the Ministry of National
Defense and the Ministries of Agriculture and Public Works created separate
meteorology organizations.
In 1923, Mehmet Fatin made a
proposal to the parliament of the newly established Turkish Republic
to form a meteorological organization that was independent from the
Observatory. He then insisted on this topic and proposed that the Kandilli
Observatory should focus on astronomy and geophysics, besides the
meteorological observatory activities just like the Uccle Royal Observatory in Belgium. For
this, he made an effort and started the construction of the building and
provided the purchase of necessary equipments.
After a fifteen-year-long effort, he
brought a 20-millimeter Zeiss telescope from Germany in 1935 and collected many books and manuscripts on
mathematics and astronomy throughout his life. This library is still have an
important place for the scholars and used by the researchers extensively. He granted
his private library to Süleymaniye Library. He also calculated the beginnings
of the months for Moslem-Lunar calendar that was officially used until 1926 in Turkey.
Also interested in the history of science, and in particular the history of
astronomy, his researches were collected in the books under the name of “Türk Takvimi”,“Eski Hitay Takvimi” and “Eski
Türklerde Hey’et ve Takvim”. In
addition, he has a work named “Rubu
Tahtası, Nazariyâtı ve Tersimi” on the “rubu” board, a tool used to monitor
and account since ancient times.
Although he was giving lectures at Istanbul University;
following the university reform in 1933, he wasn’t accepted as the faculty
member due to the fact that he was from madrasah origin and he devoted himself
entirely to his researches in the observatory. To set up an observatory in the
Western sense of ideals, he went into an intense work environment and worked
under difficult circumstances. Ultimately, he built Kandilli Observatory on
solid basis. In 1943, he retired from Kandilli Observatory, to which he
dedicated his life. After he retired, he entered in politics again and served
as the deputy of Konya
between the years of 1943-50.
Mehmet Fatin Gökmen died
in Istanbul in
1955. TUBITAK Service Award was held in memory of him in 1973 and his name was
given to a primary school in Beykoz (Beykoz
Fatin Hoca
Elementary School).
WORKS:
Türk
Takvimi (1936), Eski Hitay Takvimi (1936), 19 Haziran 1936
Küsûf-i Küllîsi (1936), Eski Türklerde Heyet ve Takvim (1937), Rubu
Tahtası Nazariyatı ve Tersimi (1948).
REFERENCE: İbrahim Alaeddin
Gövsa / Türk Meşhurları (1946), Cumhuriyetin 50. Yılında Türk Rasathaneleri
(1973, s. 13), Türkiye Ansiklopedisi (c. 1, s. 232, 1974), Türk ve
Dünya Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi (c. 5, s. 2459; 1983-85), Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm
Ansiklopedisi (c. 14, s. 142, 1996), İhsan Işık /
Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (2006) - Ünlü Bilim
Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of
Turkey’s Famous People (2013).
