Mathematician:Mathematicians/Sorted By Nation/Turkey

For more comprehensive information on the lives and works of mathematicians through the ages, see the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, created by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson.

The army of those who have made at least one definite contribution to mathematics as we know it soon becomes a mob as we look back over history; 6,000 or 8,000 names press forward for some word from us to preserve them from oblivion, and once the bolder leaders have been recognised it becomes largely a matter of arbitrary, illogical legislation to judge who of the clamouring multitude shall be permitted to survive and who be condemned to be forgotten.

-- Eric Temple Bell: Men of Mathematics, 1937, Victor Gollancz, London

Turkey

Xenocrates of Chalcedon $($$\text {c. 396/5}$ – $\text {c. 314/3 BCE}$$)$

Greek philosopher and mathematician born in what is now Turkey.

Leader of Plato's Academy between 339/8 and 314/3 BCE.
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Hipparchus of Nicaea $($$\text {c. 190}$ – $\text {c. 120 BCE}$$)$

Greek astronomer, geographer, and mathematician of Turkish origin.

Derived the first known set of trigonometrical tables.

Discovered the precession of the equinoxes.
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Theon of Smyrna $($$\text {c. 70}$ – $\text {c. 135 CE}$$)$

Greek: Θέων ὁ Σμυρναῖος.

Greek philosopher and mathematician, whose works were strongly influenced by the Pythagorean school of thought.

Made astronomical observations of Mercury and Venus between 127 and 132, as reported by Claudius Ptolemy.
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Isidorus of Miletus $($$\text {442}$ – $\text {537}$$)$

One of the two main Byzantine Greek architects (with Anthemius of Tralles) that Emperor Justinian $\text I$ commissioned to design the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from $\text {532}$ – $\text {537}$.

He also created the first comprehensive compilation of Archimedes' works.
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Anthemius of Tralles $($$\text {c. 474}$ – $\text {c. 534}$$)$

One of the two main Byzantine Greek architects (with Isidorus of Miletus) that Emperor Justinian $\text I$ commissioned to design the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople from $\text {532}$ – $\text {533}$.

Unfortunately died soon after the work was started.
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Severus Sebokht $($$\text {575}$ – $\text {667}$$)$

Syrian scholar and bishop.

The first Syrian to mention the Indian number system.
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Leon the Mathematician $($$\text {c. 790}$ – $\text {c. 870}$$)$

Archbishop of Thessalonike between $840$ and $843$.

Byzantine sage at the time of the first Byzantine renaissance of letters and the sciences in the $9$th century.

He was born probably in Constantinople where he studied grammar.

He later learnt philosophy, rhetoric, and arithmetic in Andros.
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Thabit ibn Qurra $($$\text {836}$ – $\text {901}$$)$

Sabian mathematician, physician, astronomer, and translator who lived in Baghdad in the second half of the ninth century during the time of Abbasid Caliphate.

Made important discoveries in algebra, geometry, and astronomy.

One of the first reformers of the Ptolemaic system in Astronomy.

A founder of the discipline of statics.
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Manuel Moschopoulos $($$\text {1265}$ – $\text {1316}$$)$

Byzantine scholar who flourished during the Byzantine renaissance

Wrote a treatise on magic squares.
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Cahit Arf $($$\text {1910}$ – $\text {1997}$$)$

Turkish mathematician best known for his work in abstract algebra and algebraic number theory.
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