About the Project Team

A Comparative Study on the Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Scientific Activity in the Ottoman Empire: Annual and Perpetual Calendars (1550-1710). This project was supported by the TUBITAK 1003 Priority Areas Support Program between 2020-2022. 

About the Project Team

Ottoman calendars offer a wide range of content. This reminds us once again how important it is for researchers from different disciplines to work together and even how the field of the history of science provides a suitable environment for multidisciplinary work. In this respect, “A Comparative Study on the Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Scientific Activity in the Ottoman Empire: Annual and Perpetual Calendars (1550-1710)” represents a pilot project that brings together researchers from different disciplines and the fields of study of the researchers who contributed to our project also give us a hint about the richness of the content of the calendars.

Gaye Danışan, the project coordinator, after completing her undergraduate and graduate studies at the Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Istanbul University, started her PhD program at the Department of History of Science, I.U. in 2009. She completed her PhD dissertation titled “Ottoman Nautical Astronomy and Astronomical Instruments in the 16th Century” in 2016. Between 2017 and 2018, Danışan was an academic visitor at the Museum of the History of Science, University of Oxford, UK, conducting postdoctoral research on ‘Portable Astronomical Instruments and Their Applications in the Ottoman Empire: A Comparative Study for the 16th Century’ with the support of TUBITAK. Gaye Danışan worked as a Research Assistant in the Department of History of Science at Istanbul University between 2011-2018 and has been working as an Assistant Professor in the same department since 2018. Her ongoing project entitled “Portable Astronomical Instruments: The Processes of Adaptation and Diffusion of Medieval Islamic and European Examples in the Ottoman Geography (1500- 1700)” is funded by the Turkish Academy of Science- Outstanding Young Scientists Awards Program. Danışan has contributed to the project on topics such as the scientific analysis of Ottoman calendars, the relationship between meteorology, medicine, agriculture, and astronomy, and the place of the calendar in Ottoman historiography of science.

Dr. Azize F. Çakır, who completed her doctoral dissertation on confiscation practices during the reign of Mahmut II using the prosopographic method, contributed to the project by discussing the transcription of the calendars, the daily life practices found in the ihtiyârât of the calendars, and the political, economic, and social events and phenomena reflected in the ahkâm sections in the context of the history of mentalities.

Atilla Polat (I.U. Department of the History of Science) continues his doctoral studies with his thesis, Mathematical Evaluation of Matrakçı Nasûh’s Umdetü’l-Hisâb, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Feza Günergun. His studies on Ottoman-period Turkish mathematics books have contributed to determining the arithmetic methods used in the preparation of calendars and evaluating this tradition.

Feyza Betül Aydın, who is currently pursuing her PhD in Turkish Language and Literature at Istanbul Medeniyet University, has recently completed her MA research at Tehran al-Zahra University on Early Modern Iranian literature and the image of women in early Qajar fictions, in parallel with her PhD studies. She has worked on the transcription of calendars, translation or paraphrasing of Persian texts, phrases, idioms, terms, and poems in calendars, and analysing calendars as a source of manuscript culture and social history.

Solmaz Ceren Özdemir (I.U. Department of History of Science), who completed her master’s thesis on Eclipse Calculations and Observations in Ottoman Astronomy (1800-1922), supervised by Gaye Danışan in 2021. She is currently pursuing her research entitled “Delineating the Journey of European Astronomical Instruments in Ottoman Education and Beyond (1773-1923)”, supported by the Scientific Instrument Society. She contributed to the project through the scientific and historical evaluation of the data on comets and solar and lunar eclipses in calendars.

Image 1. H. 983 (1576-1577) senesine ait zayiçeli takvimde, Ay ve Jüpiter buluşmasına dair ahkâm (Takvîm li-sene 983, Istanbul University Library of Rare Books, TY200, 13a)

Nilgün Durusüt, who graduated from Department of Computer Engineering, Boğaziçi and worked as a specialist and manager in the software development departments of various banks for a long time and currently continues her graduate research in the Department of History of Science at I.U., has contributed to the research and examination of software programs that create the algorithm for calendar calculations and the use of programs that will be useful for the analysis of Ottoman calendars and their adaptation to these calendars by making additions and updates in line with new requirements.

Hüseyin Ölmez completed his PhD thesis titled “Hermeneutic Approach to Scientifically Interpreted Qur’anic Verses” in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Istanbul University. He is a research assistant in the Department of Arabic Language and Literature at Çankırı Karatekin University. He contributed to the project with the translation of Arabic texts in calendars and manuscripts related to calendars into Turkish.

Dilara Kara Levent (I.U. Department of History of Science), who is continuing her master’s thesis titled “A Study on the Ahkâm Calendar Prepared by Yusuf b. Mehmed b. El-Bakkal al-Tabib for the Year 1016 (1607-1608)” supervised by Gaye Danışan, contributed to the research on the relationship between health and time in calendars.

Kutsi Aybars Çetinalp completed his master’s thesis entitled “An Analysis of the Knowledge of Earth Sciences in Middle Byzantine Histories, Chronicles and Military Manuals (867-1204)” under the supervision of Prof. Dr. A. M. Celâl Şengör at Istanbul Technical University, History of Science and Technology After completing his undergraduate studies at Istanbul University, Departments of Ancient Languages and Cultures and Archaeology. Çetinalp, who continues his doctoral studies at the same department, contributed to the project on the reception of Ottoman calendars in Europe.