Eminent Turk Scientists

Eminent Turk Scientists

Akşemseddin

Muhammad Shams al-Din bin Hamzah (1389, Damascus – 16 February 1459, Göynük, Bolu) named Akşemseddin in Turkish:) was an influential Ottoman scientist, scholar, poet, and mystic saint. He was the first person to give the concept of microbes. 

Scientific achievement:

Akshamsaddin mentioned the microbe in his work Maddat ul-Hayat (The Material of Life) about two centuries prior to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery through experimentation:

  “It is incorrect to assume that diseases appear one by one in humans. Disease infects by spreading from one person to another. This infection occurs through seeds that are so small they cannot be seen but are alive.”

Salient facts of life:

He was the grandson of Shahab al-Din al-Suhrawardi and a descendant of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. He was an influential tutor and adviser to Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. He discovered the lost grave of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (the companion of Muhammad) in Constantinople preceding the Siege of Constantinople. 

Books:

1. Risalat an-Nuriya
2. Khall-e Mushkilat
3. Maqamat-e Awliya
4. Kitab ut-Tib
5. Maddat ul-Hayat

 

 

Piri Reis

Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (c. 1465– 1553), better known as Piri Reis, was an Ottoman navigator, geographer and cartographer. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on early navigational techniques as well as relatively accurate charts for their time, describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea.

Scientific achievements:

1. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still existing anywhere.

2. In 1528, Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment (showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and parts of Central America in the south) still survives.

3. Although he was not an explorer and never sailed to the Atlantic, he compiled over twenty maps of Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and older Greek origins into a comprehensive representation of the known world of his era.

Salient facts of life:

His father was Hacı Mehmed, a Turk originally from the Anatolian province of Karaman. His full name was Hacı Ahmed Muhiddin Piri. Reis was a military rank equivalent to captain, so the name Piri Reis translates as Captain Piri.

His uncle Kemal Reis, a well-known corsair and seafarer of the time, who later became a famous admiral of the Ottoman Navy. During this period, together with his uncle, he took part in many naval wars of the Ottoman Empire against Spain, the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice.

He took part in the 1516–17 Ottoman conquest of Egypt.

In 1547, Piri had risen to the rank of Reis (admiral) as the Commander of the Ottoman Fleet in the Indian Ocean and Admiral of the Fleet in Egypt, headquartered in Suez.

Books:

Kitāb-ı Baḥrīye (“Book of the Sea”)

Piri Reis is the author of the Kitāb-ı Baḥrīye, or “Book of the Sea”, one of the most famous cartographical works of the period. The book gives seafarers information on the Mediterranean coast, islands, crossings, straits, and gulfs; where to take refuge in the event of a storm, how to approach the ports, and precise routes to the ports.

The work was first published in 1521, and it was revised in 1524–1525 with additional information and better-crafted charts in order to be presented as a gift to Sultan Suleiman I. The revised edition had a total of 434 pages containing 290 maps.

Apart from the maps, the book also contained detailed information on the major ports, bays, gulfs, capes, peninsulas, islands, straits and ideal shelters of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as techniques of navigation and navigation-related information on astronomy, together with information about the local people of each country and city and the curious aspects of their culture. There are thirty legends around the world map, twenty-nine in Turkish and one in Arabic; the latter gives the date as the month Muharrem of AH 919 AH (i.e. the spring of 1513) but most studies have identified the more probable date of completion as 1521.

Copies of the Kitab-ı Bahriye are found in various libraries in Istanbul and in some of the major libraries in Europe, besides one copy known to be held privately in the USA (Walters Art Museum).

Legacy:

1. Several warships and submarines of the Turkish Navy have been named after Piri Reis.

2. In the 2021 Turkish TV series Barbaros: Sword of the Mediterranean, he is portrayed by actor Emir Benderli.

 

 

Takiyüddin

 

Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma’ruf ash-Shami al-Asadi (1526–1585 AD) called Takiyüddin in Turkish was an Ottoman polymath active in Cairo and Istanbul. He was the author of more than ninety books on a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, clocks, engineering, mathematics, mechanics, optics and natural philosophy.

In 1574 the Ottoman Sultan Murad III invited Taqi ad-Din to build an observatory in the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. Taqi ad-Din constructed instruments such as an armillary sphere and mechanical clocks that he used to observe the Great Comet of 1577. He also used European celestial and terrestrial globes that were delivered to Istanbul in gift exchanges.

Scientific achievements:

1. Takiyüddin’s method of finding coordinates of stars were reportedly so precise that he got better measurements than his contemporaries, Tycho Brahe and Nicolas Copernicus.

2. He also described a steam turbine with the practical application of rotating a spit.

3. The automatic-mechanical clock developed by Takiyüddin is regarded as one of his most important inventions.

4. He also worked on and created astronomical clocks for his observatory.

5. In optics, Takiyüddin determined the light emitted from objects, proved the Law of reflection observationally, and worked on refraction.

6. He approached his observations in a creative way and created new answers to astronomical problems due to the new strategies he created along with the new equipment he created as well. He would go on to create trigonometric tables based on decimal fractions.

7. Takiyüddin also used a new method to calculate solar parameters and to determine the magnitude of the annual movement of the sun’s apogee as 63 seconds. The known value today is 61 seconds. Copernicus came up with 24 seconds and Tycho Brahe had 45 seconds but al-Dīn was more accurate than both.

Salient features of life:

Takiyüddin was born in Damascus in 1526 according to most sources. His education started in theology but he was inclined towards rational sciences and went to Damascus and Cairo to pursue his ambitions.  He stayed in Egypt and Damascus for some time and while he was there he worked  on astronomy and mathematics. His work in these categories would eventually become important. He became a chief astronomer to the Sultan in 1571 a year after he came to Istanbul.

Sultan Murad III had an interest in astronomy and astrology. He supported Takiyüddin to build an observatory in Istanbul called Dar al-Rasad al-Jadid. His studies would continue until 1577.

At the age of 59, after authoring more than ninety books, Takiyüddin passed away in 1585.

Books:

1. Sidrat al-muntah al-afkar fi malkūt al-falak al-dawār– al-zij al-Shāhinshāhi (The tree of ultimate knowledge [in the end of time or the world] in the Kingdom of the Revolving Spheres):

This book is based on discussions of astronomical clocks, heavenly circles, and information on three eclipses                which he observed in Cairo and Istanbul.

2. Al-Turuq al-samiyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines)

In this book, he described a self-rotating spit and its applications that are important in the history of the steam             turbine. The spit is rotated by directing steam into the vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of the axle.             In this book he also described four water-raising machines. The first two are animal driven water pumps. The               third and fourth are both driven by a paddle wheel. The descriptions of these machines predates many of the              more modern engines.

3. Sidrat muntahā al-afkār fī malakūt al-falak al-dawwār: It is said to be one of Takiyüddin ‘s most important works in astronomy. He completed this book on the basis of his observations in both Egypt and Istanbul.

4. Jarīdat al-durar wa kharīdat al-fikar: It is said to be his second most important work in astronomy. This contains the first recorded use of decimal fractions and trigonometric functions in astronomical tables. He also gives the parts of degree of curves and angles in decimal fractions with precise calculations.

5. Al-Kawākib al-durriyya fī waḍ ҁ al-bankāmāt al-dawriyya written in 1559, addressed mechanical-automatic clocks. This work is considered to be the first written work on mechanical-automatic clocks in the Islamic and Ottoman world.

6. Nawr ḥadīqat al-abṣar wa-nūr ḥaqīqat al-Anẓar was a work of Takiyüddin that discussed physics and optics. This book discussed the structure of light, the relationship between light and color, as well as diffusion and global refraction.