Hoca Ishak Efendi (c. 1774 in Arta – 1835 in

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

) was an Ottoman mathematician and engineer.

Life

Ishak Efendi was born in Arta (now in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

), probably in 1774, to a Jewish family. His father had converted to Islam. After his father died, he went to Constantinople, where he studied mathematics and foreign languages, learning French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew alongside Turkish, Arabic and Persian. As part of Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II ( ota, محمود ثانى, Maḥmûd-u s̠ânî, tr, II. Mahmud; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. His reign is recognized for the extensive administrative, ...

's attempts to modernize the Empire, in 1816 he was appointed instructor (hence his title of ''

hoca Hoca is the Turkish spelling of the Persian word Khawaja (Persian: خواجه ''khwāja, khâjeh''), used as a title, given name or surname. As a title, Hoca (variant ''Hodja'') means “master” and is commonly used for teachers, professors ...

'', "master, teacher") at the

Imperial School of Military Engineering The Imperial School of Military Engineering ( ota, script=Latn, Mühendishâne-i Berrî-i Hümâyun) was an Ottoman military engineering academy in Hasköy, Constantinople. It was opened in 1795 during the reign of Selim III and continued funct ...

(predecessor of the

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University ( tr, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, commonly referred to as ITU or The Technical University) is an international technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

). In July 1824 he was also named as interpreter (''

dragoman A dragoman or Interpretation was an interpreter, translator, and official guide between Turkish-, Arabic-, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts. A ...

'') to the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, a post he held until 1828/9, when he was dismissed, possibly due to fears by the secretary of state (''

reis ül-küttab The ''Reis ül-Küttab'' ( ota, رئيس الكتاب), or ''Reis Efendi'' (), was a senior post in the administration of the Ottoman Empire. Translated as "chief of the katib, scribes" or "head clerk", the holder of the post was originally the hea ...

'') Pertev Pasha that he might replace him. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-29, Ishak Efendi spent some time supervising the construction of fortresses, before resuming his teaching post at the Imperial School of Military Engineering, where he rose to become Head Instructor (''başhoca'') in December 1830/January 1831. As Head Instructor, he tried with some success to reform the curriculum and raise the educational level of the faculty, but his influential predecessor, Seyyid Ali Pasha, managed through his connections at court to have him sent to

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...

on the pretext of going to the ''

hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried o ...

'', as well as to supervise various restorations to the holy sites there. During his return to Istanbul in 1835, he died at

, where he was buried.

Work

His main work, the ''Madjmuʿa-i ʿUlum-i Riyaziyye'' ("Collected Works on Mathematical Sciences"), was a four-volume text published between 1831 and 1834. It contained translations, mostly of contemporary French works, on mathematics, physics, chemistry and geology, and played a crucial role in introducing many contemporary scientific concepts to the Muslim world: according to the ''

Encyclopedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published i ...

'', it was "the first work in Turkish on the modern physical and natural sciences", being credited with introducing the "scientific terminology, based on Arabic, which was used in Turkey up to the 1930s and in some Arab countries still later". He also wrote a number of works, again mainly translated from European treatises, on engineering and military science.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ishak Efendi 1774 births 1835 deaths Scientists from the Ottoman Empire Translators from French People from Arta, Greece Military engineers Istanbul Technical University 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire 19th-century engineers Converts to Islam from Judaism