Historian of science (B. May 2nd,
1913, Istanbul – D. October 15th, 1993, Ankara). He was the third
child of Abdurrahman Bey and Suat Hanım. Because his father worked in Iran, he
lived in Iran during a part of his childhood. He completed his primary
education in Istanbul, and secondary education in Ankara. He completed Ankara Erkek
High School in 1933. The President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was among the
committee for high school graduation exam, wanted Aydın Sayın to be looked
after upon the outstanding performance that he showed. Upon this, the Minister
of Education Reşit Galip Bey motivated him to be interested in the history of
science. The same year he graduated from the high school, he won the exam that
the Ministry of Education held for sending students abroad and he was sent to
the United States of America in order to study history of science at Harvard
University. Prof. Dr. George Sarton had so much impact on his training. In
1942, he received his doctorate degree with a thesis entitled “the Scientific Institutions in the Islamic
World” from Harvard University under the supervision of George Sarton. This
doctorate is known for being the first doctorate degree in the world that was
given in the field of science history.
When Aydın Sayılı returned to Turkey
in 1943, he started working at Ankara University Faculty of Languages, History
and Geography, the Department of Philosophy. History courses were added to the
curriculum of the department when he started working there. In 1946, he was
appointed to the chair of philosophy as an Associate Professor of History of
Science and in 1952 he became the Professor of History of Science. With the
scholarships that he received from the US government and Fords Foundation in the
years of 1952-53 and 1956-57, he stayed in the US for a period of 10-11 months and
did researches. He rejected the offers that he received from various American
universities in order to fulfill his responsibilities to Ankara. In 1958, he received
the title Distinguished Professor. He published his work named “the Observatory in the Islam and its Place in
the General History of the Observatory”, which was his masterpiece, in
1960. In 1974 he was elected as the Head of Department of Philosophy of the
faculty; he carried out this duty until he retired in 1983.
During the long years that Sayılı was
working at Ankara University, he trained only three doctorate students. Sevim
Tekeli did her doctorate in the history of astronomy, Esin Kâhya in the fields
of history of natural sciences and history of medicine, and Melek Dosay in the field
of history of mathematics. In addition to his duty at the University, Saygılı,
who was elected as a full member of the Turkish Historical Society in 1947 and carried
out works in this institution, served there as the Head of Medieval Turkish
History Department for years. He became a full member of the International
Academy of History of Science in 1961 and served as the vice president of this
institution as of 1962, for three years.
Prof. Sayılı, the scientist who
established the histography of science in Turkey, presented the contributions
of the Turks, the Islam World, the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians and other
various civilizations to the science and to the formation of the Western
civilization. During his scientific studies, he was interested in Turkish and worked
on it. Aydın Sayılı found new Turkish translations for the foreign words, which
could not be translated before, and for the terms that could cause confusion of
meaning, and explained them. In his article bearing the same name with the
publication of “Bilim, Kültür ve Öğretim
Dili Olarak Türkçe (T.N.Turkish as a
Language of Science and Instruction)”, where he served as
the editor, Sayılı explained the development of Turkish language and
lexicalized new synonymous, homonymous Turkish words in this study, which was
related to different fields of information such as mathematics, physics and
philosophy.
With his work that was associated
with the observatories in the Islamic World, Sayılı introduced the main
observatories, the main astronomers that served at these institutions, the
tools that were used and the astronomical studies that were carried out during
that period. He proved that the observatory named el-Mukasem, which was accepted
to be located in Cairo, actually did not exist. He found the location of
Kasiyun Observatory in Damascus. He revealed that the observatory was an
institution that came into existence in the Islamic world due to the necessity
of astronomy to fulfill the religious practices in Islam and that the first
observatories in the Western world were constituted by taking the observatories
in the Islamic world as examples.
Sayılı introduced the first seven
hospitals of the Islamic world to the science world with his study entitled “İslam Dünyasında Hastaneler” (T.N. the Hospitals in Islamic World). He wrote his work named “Hayatta En Hakiki Mürşit İlimdir” (T.N.
the Truest Guide in Life is Science) by giving examples from the history to the
matters such as science, scientific method and differences between science and
technology. In many of his works he addressed the scientific relationships
between the West and the Ottoman and discussed the reasons of retrogression of
science in the Islamic worlds. In his work named “Mısır ve Mezopotamyalılarda Matematik, Astronomi, Matematik” (T.N. Mathematics, Astronomy, Mathematics in Egypt and Mesopotamia), he compared the mentioned civilizations’
knowledge on these topics with the knowledge in Classical Greece. In his last
studies he focused on the importance and the role of scientific studies of Turks
in the Islamic world. He revealed that the scientist named Abu Rayhan al-Biruni
was a Turk. He published a book about the studies of Copernicus. He examined studies
of Aristotle and al-Qarafi on the rainbow comparatively. He showed the parallelism
between the explanations of Ibn Sina and Newton on the motion. He examined the
effects of Farabi’s views on the space on the Western science.
Aydın Sayılı also took a strong
interest in history and literature. He published the poem named “Leylek ve Bülbül” of Gülşehri for the
first time in Turkish, which was written in the 14th century and
which contained information on madrasahs and on the natural sciences; this can
be given as an example of his works in this field. Besides, he wrote an article about the poems,
which were about Istanbul Observatory, of el-Mansuri that lived in the 16th
century. It was accepted that no scientific study was performed at Istanbul
Observatory, which had been built in the period of the Ottoman Sultan Murat III
and had been demolished in the same sultan’s period. However, in this article Sayılı
revealed the information that there were sixteen observers living at Istanbul
Conservatory and also there was a library based on el-Mansuri.
Aydın Sayılı was appointed as the
Head of Atatürk Culture Center, which is one of the four units of Atatürk High
Institution of Culture, Language and History that was established in 1984. He
made great efforts to issue the journal named “Erdem” on behalf of Atatürk Culture Center. He retired from this duty
in 1993. In the first month of his retirement he died of heart failure on
October 15th, 1993 on the street. He was buried at Ankara Cebeci
Asri Cemetery.
Aydın Sayılı was awarded with
Copernicus Medal for his studies on Nicolaus Copernicus by the Polish government
in 1973. He was deemed worthy of TÜBİTAK Service Award in 1977 and Istanbul
University Outstanding Service Award in 1981. In 1980, Sayılı was elected as a
member of the UNESCO International Editorial Board and in 1990 he received UNESCO
Award for his lifetime services. Aydın Sayılı’s portrait was portrayed on the
reverse side of the 5 Turkish Lira banknotes that got into circulation on
January 1st, 2009.
WORKS:
Hayatta En Hakiki Mürşit İlimdir (1948), The
Observatory in Islam (1960), Uluğ Bey ve Senerkand’daki İlmi Faaliyeti
Hakkında Gıyaseddin-i Kaşi’nin Mektubu (1960), Abdülhamid İbn Türk’ün Katışık Denklemlerde Mantıkî Zaruretler Adlı
Yazısı ve Zamanın Cebri (1962), Mısırlılarda
ve Mezopotamyalılarda Matematik, Astronomi ve Tıp (1966), Copernicus and His Monumental Work (1973),
Türkler ve Bilimler (Turkish,
English, French and Arabic, 1976), Ortaçağ
Bilim ve Tefekküründe Türklerin Yeri (1985).
REFERENCE: Prof. Dr. Esin Kaya / Ord. Prof. Dr. Aydın
Sayılı’nın Ardından (Osmanlı Tarihi Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi Dergisi,
sayı: 6, 1995), Mehmet Cemil Uğurlu / Büyük Bir Bilim Tarihçisi Ord. Prof. Dr.
Aydın Sayılı (Erdem dergisi 1996, No. 26),
Dursun Aydın / Ordinaryus Profesör Aydın Sayılı Bilim Tarihinde Türk
Entelektüel Kimliği (2008), Remzi Demir - Doğan Atılgan, DTCF Fakültesi ve
Türkiye’de Beşerî Bilimlerin Yeniden İnşası - Elli Portre (2008), Hülya Semiz /
Türk Lirası ‘aydın’landı (İletim Gazetesi, Mart 2009), Ünlü Bilim Adamları
(Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous
People (2013) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür
Adamları Ansiklopedisi (C. 12, 2017).
