I am pleased to announce the release of the important and impressive collection of essays in honor of our Turkish colleague Feza Günergun, which has just been published in Istanbul:

Intricate Pathways in the Quest for Knowledge / Festschrift for Feza Günergun  


Bilgi Arayışının Karmaşık Yolları / Feza Günergun Armağanı


Istanbul: Libra Kitap, 2025, 2 vol., 1028 p. ill., bibl., index

The Introduction is bilingual English/Turkish;
 half of the articles are in English or in French.

See the table of contents below.

I would be grateful if your could convince your institutions to acquire the book through their libraries to support the research and independent academic publishing in history of science in Turkey.

With best regards,

Sonja Brentjes, AIHS-IAHS President

From the back covers of vols. 1 & 2

Early attempts to investigate the history of science in Turkey appeared at the turn of the 20th century and prioritized the knowledge Europeans inherited from medieval Islamic science. Studies aiming to reveal the Turks’ prominent roles in the history of science, were followed by those examining the instruction of sciences and their applications throughout the Ottoman Empire. Feza Günergun‘s (Baytop) research focused on the transfer of European science and technology to Turkey within the framework of the modernization efforts of the Ottoman Empire: Translations, scientific and professional journals, scientific instruments, terminology, educational institutions, actors who transmitted modern sciences, trends...

Forty scholars from various countries contributed to this Festschrift to celebrate Günergun‘s retirement. In the first volume of the Festschrift, you will read the 21 research articles on less explored topics in the history of science, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, printing, military technology, engineering, astronomy, cartography, and seafaring. The second volume contains 17 research articles by these experts on the history of mathematics, natural sciences, geology, chemistry, agriculture, scientific instruments, mechanical clocks, transmission of sciences, educational spaces and scientific journals.

Table of Contents

VOLUME I / CİLT I

Introduction / Giriş

Researching the History of Science in Turkey; Türkiye’de Bilim Tarihini Araştırmak ...................... 11-31, 33-52


Meltem Kocaman

Part 1 – Medical treatment: Physicians, drugs, and practices


Bölüm 1 – Tıbbi tedavi: Doktorlar, ilaçlar, uygulamalar

Galileo and his Medical Colleagues in Padua .................................................................................................. 55-78


William R. Shea

Bakteriyolog Kaymakam Süleyman Nuri Bey’in Avrupa Darülameliyelerindeki Cevelanı ......................... 79-124


Şeref Etker

Une Ecorce Très Convoitée: Le Quinquina ..................................................................................................125-140


Michèle Nicolas

‘Alī Münşī’nin İpekakuana Risalesi Üzerine Notlar ya da Feridun Nafiz Uzluk’un


Monografisine Küçük Bir Zeyl .................................................................................................................... 141-149


Akif Ercihan Yerlioğlu

Birinci Ordu Menzil İki Numaralı Hayvan Hastanesi Albümü, 1915 ......................................................... 151-178


Nuran Yıldırım

Part 2 – Publishing, printing, and illustrating science books


Bölüm 2 – Bilim kitaplarını yayımlamak, basmak ve resimlemek

Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions and its Phenomenal Publishing Success ........................... 181-206


Kostas Gavroglu

The Cultivation of a Knowing Gaze a forgotten use of images............................................................... 207-218


Shigehisa Kuriyama

Traduire l’image technique, de Monge à Ishak Efendi: Les planches de l’Usulü’s-siyaga


par Rafael Kazancıoğlu ................................................................................................................................ 219-260


Patrice Bret

Printing European Mathematics Textbooks in Istanbul ............................................................................... 261-295


Gert Schubring

Keys to the ‘Keys to the Sciences’: Early Mechanics through Revealing


Historical Sources and Terms ...................................................................................................................... 297-312


Elaheh Kheirandish

Part 3 – Technics, engineers and craftsmen


Bölüm 3 – Teknikler, mühendisler, zanaatkârlar

Köprülüler Devri Osmanlı Kuşatma Teknikleri ........................................................................................... 315-330


Kahraman Şakul

A Polish Engineer as Agent of British Imperialism in Syria and Iraq? Entangled Histories of


Railways and Geopolitics (1850s-1860s) .................................................................................................... 331-362


Darina Martykánová (331-362)

Tophane Nazırı İbrahim Halil Paşa ve Osmanlı Devleti’nde Silah Üretimini


Yerlileştirilme Teşebbüsleri ......................................................................................................................... 363-391


Metin Ünver

Kabartmalar Üzerindeki Tasvirler Çerçevesinde Yeni Asur Dönemi Savaş Arabaları Saldırı


ve Kuşatma Araçları ..................................................................................................................................... 393-422


Gaye Şahinbaş Erginöz

Part 4 – Making calenders, star catalogues, and charts: Astronomers and navigators at work


Bölüm 4 – Astronomlar ve denizciler iş başında: Takvimler, yıldız katalogları ve haritalar

Lyra and Libra in Eleven Manuscripts of ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Ṣūfī’s Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib


al-Thābita of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries ..................................................................................... 425-448


Sonja Brentjes

Time and Calendar in the Byzantine Era: Social and Astronomical Accuracy ........................................... 449-461


Efthymios Nicolaïdis

Around the Globe: Magellan, Pigafetta and the Nautical Chart ‘Hazine 1825’ of Istanbul ........................ 463-489


Dejanirah Couto

On-Board Training in the Ottoman Navy: The Case of the Hüdavendigâr Frigate .....................................491-506


Kaan Üçsu

On Altıncı Yüzyıl Osmanlı Denizciliğinde Rüzgâr, Zaman ve Astronomi ................................................. 507-520


Gaye Danışan

“Geography of the East”: The Greek Translation of a Turkish Book of Geography in 1922 ..................... 521-530


George Vlahakis 521-530

Semerkant’taki Bilim Hayatı Üzerine el-Kâşî’nin Yeni Bulunan Bir Mektubu .......................................... 531-553


Mohammad Bagheri

Life Inspired by the Deeds of Great Ancestors - Büyük Ataların Yaptıklarından


İlham Alan Hayat ......................................................................................................................................... 555-567


Shuhrat Ehgamberdiev

VOLUME II / CİLT II

Part 5 – Mathematicians and mathematical texts


Bölüm 5 – Matematikçiler ve matematik metinleri

L’appendice arithmétique de Hadiyyat al-Muhtadī ......................................................................................577-601


Mahdi Abdeljaouad & Pierre Ageron

Mathématiques et Mathématiciens de l’Occident Musulman à l’Époque Ottomane (XVe-XIXe s.):


Un Nouveau Bilan .........................................................................................................................................601-622


Ahmed Djebbar

Türkistân’ın Cemâl’i: Cemâl el-Türkistânî (ö. 719/1319’dan sonra) .......................................................... 623-649


İhsan Fazlıoğlu

Part 6 – Comprehending and dicovering Nature


Bölüm 6 – Doğayı anlamak ve keşfetmek

Heraclitus of Ephesus and his Logos: The First Theory of Relativity – A Preliminary Note ..................... 653-679


A. M. Celâl Şengör

Rush on Emery at Western Anatolia: Implications for the Mineral Exploration


and Exploitation Knowledge in the Late Ottoman Empire .......................................................................... 681-707


Gönenç Göçmengil

Osmanlı Döneminde Yurtdışında Yapılan Kimya Doktoraları .....................................................................709-753


Emre Dölen

Halkalı Ziraat Mektebinde Meteoroloji: Dersler, Hocalar, Kitaplar ............................................................ 755-774


Sevtap Kadıoğlu

Part 7 – Scientific instruments and clocks


Bölüm 7 – Bilimsel aletler ve saatler

Scientific Instruments and their Usage during Ulrich Jasper Seetzen’s Voyage to the Ottoman Empire ... 777-799


Barışcan Ersöz & Meltem Kocaman

Saatçi Mehmed Şükrü’nün Nâdîde Saatleri ................................................................................................. 801-813


Şinasi Acar

Salih Zeki’nin Basılmamış Eseri Âsâr-ı Bâkiye’nin Üçüncü Cildindeki Usturlap Bahsi ............................ 815-834


Atilla Bir

Part 8 – Science: Transmission, controversies, social history and locations


Bölüm 8 – Bilim: Aktarım, tartışmalar, sosyal tarih ve mekân

What do Priority Disputes Between Center and Periphery Conceal? Reflections on Science in


Twentieth Century India .............................................................................................................................. 837-857


Dhruv Raina

“Şiir ve Fen”: Bir On Dokuzuncu Yüzyıl Tartışmasında Osmanlı Vakası .................................................. 859-881


Alper Yalçınkaya

Toplumsal Tarih Perspektifinden Osmanlı Deniz Teknolojisi .................................................................... 883-904


Tuncay Zorlu

Mekteb-i Mülkiye’nin Bulunduğu Binalar ve İlgası .................................................................................... 905-931


Ali Y. Baltacıoğlu

Bir Osmanlıca Anarşizm Metni ................................................................................................................... 933-957


Bilal Yurtoğlu

Part 9 – Tracing scientific knowledge in journals and memoirs


Bölüm 9 – Dergilerde ve anılarda bilimin izini sürmek

Matematik ve Tabiat Bilimleri Dergisi (İstanbul, 1945-1947) .................................................................... 961-984


Özge Hazar

Bir Gözcünün Merceğinden Savaş ve Barış: Dr. Niyazi İsmet Gözcü’nün Anıları .................................. 985-1086


Cem Hakan Başaran

Feza Baytop Günergun - Publications / Yayınlar ............................................................................... 1087-1109

Images with memories / Anısı olan resimler ........................................................................................ 1111-1125

Notes on contributors / Yazarlar hakkında ......................................................................................... 1127-1139

Index / Dizin ............................................................................................................................................ 1141-1207