Veteran Turkish scholar Tosun Terzioğlu dies at 74

ISTANBUL

Turkish Prof. Dr. Tosun Terzioğlu, founding rector of Sabancı University and former head of the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), has died at the age of 74 at an Istanbul hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for some time.

After graduating from Newcastle upon Tyne University’s mathematics department, Ahmet Tosun Terzioğlu went to Frankfurt University for his post-graduate studies. He then taught between 1968 and 1994 at the University of Michigan, Wuppertal University and Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ). He served consecutively as the head of ODTÜ’s mathematics department and its dean of the science and literature faculty.

Terzioğlu also served as the head of TÜBİTAK between 1992 and 1997.

Terzioğlu worked as the founding rector at Sabancı University between 1997 and 2009. He was one of the first three emeritus members of the university, where he also taught in its engineering and natural sciences department.

He was also the president of the board of the Mathematics Association between 1989 and 2008. He is the author of more than 50 academic articles and four books in the field of mathematics.

Terzioğlu gave his final interview to the Hürriyet Daily News’ Barçın Yinanç in November 2015, discussing the necessity to invest more in research and development in order to grow in science and technology. Click here to read the interview.