Research Information System
8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ONGLOBAL PRACTICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARYSCIENTIFIC STUDIES, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 25 - 29 September 2024, pp.475-484
In the early Republican period, Turkey’s scientific development process was of great importance as part of the country’s modernization goals. In this period, the importance of science and technology in the processes of economic development and industrialization was emphasized, and science was viewed not only as a development tool but also as a fundamental basis for social and cultural reforms. Thanks to the strategic approaches shaped between 1923 and 1950, Turkey’s science policies laid the foundation for the country’s progress in science and technology in the following years. During the Republican era, Turkey took important steps in the fields of science and education, and university reforms were carried out by bringing in foreign experts and lecturers. After the 1933 University Reform, institutions such as Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine and Middle East Technical University collaborated with experts from the United States. Scientific institutionalization also played an important role in this process, and institutions such as the Red Crescent, Refik Saydam Institute and Kandilli Observatory were restructured. In addition, new institutions such as TÜBİTAK and the General Directorate of State Meteorological Affairs were established, and organizations such as the Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority became operational. During this period, important studies were carried out in the fields of mathematics, physics and astronomy, and Turkey’s first generation of scientists laid the scientific foundations of the Republic. These scientists, who grew up in the Ottoman period, made important contributions to the international literature with the new opportunities offered by the Republic. This study examines the role of scientific developments in Turkey’s social and economic development between 1923 and 1950 and evaluates the science policies of this period from a contemporary perspective. In conclusion, the importance given to science and technology in the early Republican period was one of the most critical elements in Turkey’s modernization process.