The life and scientific studies of mathematician Mehmed İzzet

This master's thesis aims to establish a scientific biography of Mehmed İzzet Özarun (1867-1940), who devoted more than fifty years of his life to improving science and mathematics education in Turkey. As a mathematician, the name Mehmed İzzet appears frequently in the Turkish history of science studies, particularly covering the late Ottoman and the early Republicanperiods. Despite this fact, his life and his scientific publications have not been the subject of an in-depth study. We expanded the limited information provided by existing literature by examining Ottoman archival documents, newspapers of the period, articles about his life, and the publications written by himself. Mehmed İzzet completed his education at Dârüşşafaka High School, and then started to work as a translator at the Mâbeyn-i Hümâyûn Cenâb-ı Mülûkâne Translation Office. During this period, he translated 37 novels and travelogues for the Sultan Abdülhamid II. Later, he worked for a period as an administrator at the Şirket-i Hayriye (an Istanbul Ferry Boat Company). The reason he was known as a mathematician was that he taught mathematics, mechanics, and astronomy at various schools for many years. Among them were schools such as Dârüşşafaka, Mekteb-i Mülkiye-i Şâhâne, and Dârülfünun. Mehmed İzzet has published around 146 books and text books including reprints; most of them are on mathematics. He has written 69 articles for various journals and newspapers such as Dârüşşafaka, Fenn, Mahfil, İkdam, and Talebe Mecmuası. He was also the editor-in-chief of the journal Dârüşşafaka and theco-publisher of journal Talebe Mecmuası together with Hasan Fehmi. Our thesis examines the life and publications of Mehmed İzzet in detail.