“Ottoman science” refers to the overall scientific activity carried out within the space and time dimensions of the Ottoman Empire. Scientific activities that took place within the boundaries of the empire over its 600-year history have displayed some characteristic trends. As to historical heritage and tradition, these activities had much in common with those in Muslim societies outside these boundaries. However, they acquired some distinguishing features due to their geographical span and the dynamism of state administration and society. Therefore, though Ottoman science and the science of other Muslim countries shared common elements stemming from a common origin, the former took a leading position with regard to the developments achieved. In its early evolution, the Ottoman scientific tradition drew from the experience of old cultural centers such as Samarkand, Damascus, and Cairo, but not long after, it reached a point where it was capable of influencing these centers in some...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aydüz, S. (1993). Osmanlı Devleti'nde Müneccimbaşılık ve Müneccimbaşılar. M.A. thesis, Istanbul University.
Demir, R. (2000). Takiyüddin'de Matematik ve Astronomi: Ceridetü'd-Dürer ve Haridetü'l-Fiker Üzerine Bir İnceleme. Ankara, Turkey: Atatürk Kültür Merkezi Başkanlığı.
Goodrich, T. C. (1990). The Ottoman Turks and the New World, a study of Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi and sixteenth-century Ottoman Americana. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz.
Ihsanoglu, E. (1993). Chief instructor Ishak Efendi: Pioneer of modern science in Turkey. In C. E. Farah (Ed.), Decision making and change in the Ottoman Empire (pp. 157–168). Kirksville, MO: The Thomas Jefferson University Press.
Ihsanoglu, E. (Ed.) (1997–2011). History of Ottoman scientific literature series (18 Vols. On astronomy, mathematics, geography, military science, music, natural & applied sciences, medical sciences, astrology and cumulative index; original Turkish; English & Arabic explanation). Istanbul, Turkey: IRCICA.
Ihsanoglu, E. (Ed.). (2001–2002) History of the Ottoman state, society and civilization (2 Vols.) Istanbul, Turkey: IRCICA.
Ihsanoglu, E. (2004). Science, technology, and learning in the Ottoman Empire western influence, local institutions and the transfer of knowledge. Ashgate Variorum.
Ihsanoglu, E. (Ed.). (2014, in press). Ottoman scientific legacy (an overview of the 18 volumes of History of Ottoman Scientific Literature Series).
Inalcık, H. (1973). The Ottoman Empire: The classical age, 1300–1600 (N. Itzkowitz & C. Imber, Trans.). London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson.
Kaçar, M. (2000). The development in the attitude of the Ottoman state towards science and education and the establishment of the engineering schools (Mühendishaneler). In E. Ihsanoglu et al. (Ed.), Proceedings of the international congress of history of science (Liège, July 20–26, 1997): Science, technology and industry in the Ottoman World (pp. 81–90). Belgium: Brepols Publisher.
Kāhya, E. (1990). El- 'Itaqi, the treatise on anatomy of human body. Islamabad, Pakistan: National Hijra Council.
Miroğlu, İ. (1973). İstanbul Rasathanesine Ait Belgeler. Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi, 3, 75–82.
Russell, G. (1992). The owl and the pussycat: The process of cultural transmission in anatomical illustration. In E. Ihsanoglu (Ed.), Transfer of modern science & technology to the Muslim world (pp. 180–212). Istanbul, Turkey: IRCICA.
Sarı, N., & Zülfikar, B. (1992). The Paracelsusian influence on Ottoman medicine in the seventeenth-and eighteenth centuries. In E. Ihsanoglu (Ed.), Transfer of modern science & technology to the Muslim world (pp. 157–179). Istanbul, Turkey: IRCICA.
Sayılı, A. (1960). The observatory in Islam. Ankara, Turkey: Publications of the Turkish Historical Society.
Tekeli, S. (1958). Nasirüddin, Takiyüddin ve Tycho Brahe'nin Rasad Aletlerinin Mukayesesi. Ankara Üniversitesi, Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi, 16(3–4), 301–393.
Tekeli, S. (1986). Onaltıncı Yüzyıl Trigonometri Çalışmaları Üzerine bir Araştırma, Copernicus ve Takiyüddin [Trigonometry in the sixteenth century, Copernicus and Taqī al-Din]. Erdem, 2/4, 219–272.
Ünver, A. S. (1975). Osmanlı Türkleri İlim Tarihinde Muvakkithaneler. In Atatürk Konferansları 1971–72 (pp. 217–257). Ankara, Turkey: Publications of the Turkish Historical Society.
Uzel, I. (1979). Dentistry on the early Turkish medical manuscripts. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Istanbul.
Uzel, I. (1992). Şerefeddin Sabuncuoglu Cerrahiyyetu'l-Haniyye (2 Vols.) Ankara, Turkey: Publications of the Turkish Historical Society.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Ihsanoglu, E. (2016). Ottoman Science. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_8820
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_8820
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7746-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7747-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities