A Literature Review on History of Astronomy (1923- 2004)
This article aims to present the publications on the history of astronomy in Turkey for the period from 1923 to 2004 and will reach some conclusions. The history of astronomy has been studied quite recently in Turkey. Sâlih Zeki, M. Sherefeddin and Mehmed Fatin Gökmen were among those who studied the subject first. In this field, the total number of publications reached to 423; out of which 50 are books and the remaining 373 are articles. The most studied topics in the history of astronomy are the astronomers, time keeping and observatory instruments. In Turkey, the first and unique book on general history of science is The History of Science since Ancient Times (Unat, 2001). In particular, the leading studies are as follows: The Observatory in Islam (Sayılı, 1960), Copernicus and His Monumental Work (Sayılı, 1973), The Clock in Ottoman Empire in 16th Century and Tagi al-Dın's “The Brightest Stars for the Construction of the Mechanical Clocks (Tekeli, 1966), Istanbul Observatory (Unver, 1969), The History of Literature of the Ottoman Astronomy (Istanbul, 1997), Taqi al-Dın's Mathematics and Astronomies (Demir 2000), Alfarganus' The Elements of Astronomy (Unat, 1998), Sayyid Ali Pasha's Mirat al Alam (Unat, 2001).
YAVUZ UNAT
