Famous Mathematicians from Türkiye

 

Cahit Arf (1910–1997)

Universally considered the greatest modern Turkish mathematician. He is best known for the **Arf invariant** (of quadratic forms in characteristic 2, with applications in topology and knot theory), the **Hasse–Arf theorem** in ramification theory, and concepts such as Arf rings and Arf closures. Educated in France and Germany (PhD under Helmut Hasse in Göttingen), he played a major role in building modern mathematical research and institutions in Turkey, including early leadership of TÜBİTAK. His portrait appears on the reverse of the Turkish 10-lira banknote (shown below).

Ali Kuşçu (Ali Qushji, 1403–1474)

The leading Ottoman mathematician and astronomer of the 15th century. Trained in the Samarkand scientific circle under Ulugh Beg, he later moved to Istanbul under Mehmed II (the Conqueror). He wrote important treatises on arithmetic (*Muhammadiyya*) and astronomy (*Fathiyya*), contributed to the teaching of mathematics in Ottoman madrasas, calculated Istanbul’s coordinates with high accuracy, and helped transfer advanced mathematical and astronomical knowledge into the Ottoman world.

 Kerim Erim (1894–1952)

A foundational figure in the establishment of modern (Western-style) mathematics in the Turkish Republic. He was among the first Turks to earn a doctorate in mathematics (in Germany) and served for many years as head of the Mathematics Institute at Istanbul University. He worked on the foundations of mechanics, analysis, and the philosophy of mathematics, and was instrumental in training the next generation of Turkish mathematicians and modernizing university mathematics education.

(Image: www.msxlabs.org)

Ali Nesin (born 1956/1957)

The most prominent contemporary Turkish mathematician in terms of both research and public impact. His research is in model theory and algebra (especially groups of finite Morley rank). He is best known for founding the **Nesin Mathematics Village** near Şirince in 2007 — an independent residential center that has trained thousands of students and researchers and significantly raised the level and visibility of mathematics education in Turkey. He received the International Mathematical Union’s Leelavati Prize in 2018 for this work.

These four span the major eras of Turkish mathematical history: the classical Ottoman period (Ali Kuşçu), the early Republican modernization (Kerim Erim), the mid-20th-century research flowering (Cahit Arf), and the present day (Ali Nesin). Other notable names frequently mentioned include Gelenbevi İsmail Efendi (18th century), Feza Gürsey (theoretical physics/mathematics), and Masatoshi Gündüz İkeda (algebra).

Saturn's decagon

(Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute)

In September 2026, astronomers confirmed the discovery of a striking 10-sided atmospheric feature—a decagon—encircling Saturn’s south pole. Unlike the planet’s famous and long-lived hexagonal jet stream at the north pole, which has been observed for more than four decades, this southern structure appears to be relatively new and still evolving. Hubble Space Telescope images from 2023 through 2025, combined with ground-based observations (including some by amateur astronomers), revealed a clear polygonal wave centered near 58° to 63° south latitude. The pattern sits within a powerful eastward jet stream and spans a vast scale, with each side measuring roughly 16,700–16,800 kilometers—longer than Earth’s diameter—making the overall loop around the pole about 168,000 kilometers in circumference.

The decagon is interpreted as a large-scale meandering atmospheric wave (likely a Rossby-type wave) trapped and shaped by the curvature of the surrounding jet stream, which itself races along at around 116 meters per second (about 420 km/h or 260 mph). Remarkably, the polygonal pattern drifts much more slowly eastward at only about 2.5 meters per second, while its ten vertices oscillate longitudinally with a period of roughly 32 days and amplitudes of several degrees. Multi-wavelength Hubble data show the feature extends through multiple atmospheric layers rather than being confined to a single cloud deck, and it has grown more distinct and sharply defined over the observed years. A nearby large storm may have played a role in its formation, though the precise fluid-dynamics mechanisms remain under study.

This southern decagon provides a valuable counterpart to the northern hexagon and challenges earlier assumptions that such regular polygonal waves were unique to Saturn’s north polar region. Because no spacecraft has orbited Saturn since Cassini’s mission ended in 2017, and because the south pole was poorly visible from Earth for years due to the planet’s axial tilt, the feature’s exact start date is still uncertain. Continued monitoring with Hubble and ground-based telescopes will help determine how long the decagon persists, whether it stabilizes like its northern cousin, and what it reveals about the complex atmospheric dynamics of gas giants.

Astronomers discover mysterious 10-sided cloud structure at Saturn's south pole | Space

Scientists discover a mysterious wave shaped like a decagon in Saturn’s atmosphere | Scientific American

Crack in the twin prime conjecture problem

(Image: Gemini G.E.L. (@GeminiGEL) / X)

Here is a story to convince math enthusiasts to continue to work on problems regardless of their age:

A 58-year-old lecturer who had published no original work in 12 years, and who had spent years keeping the books at a friend's Subway sandwich shop, mailed a paper to the Annals of Mathematics on April 17, 2013. Just over a month later it was accepted: pairs of consecutive primes less than 70 million apart occur infinitely often. - ScienceBlog.com

Related posts:

Prime number gaps

Twin prime sandwich