Mehmet Esat Işık (3 April 1865–1 November 1936) was a Turkish physician and politician, known for his contribution in the development of ophthalmology in his home country.

Biography

Mehmet Esat was born in Istanbul on 3 April 1865. His mother was the daughter of

Ağa Yusuf Pasha Ağa Yusuf Pasha (Yusuf Pasha the Agha), also known as Gürcü Yusuf Pasha (Yusuf Pasha the Georgian), was an 18th-century Ottoman military leader and Grand vizier. Yusuf Pasha was of Georgian origin and a devshirme. In 1710, he was appointe ...

who served as the

grand vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

. He was educated at the military medical academy and received his specialty training in medicine in France graduating from the University of Paris. After attending medical schools in Germany and Austria he returned to the Ottoman Empire in 1894 and established the first ophthalmic clinic in the country. Mehmet Esat supported the national independence movement led by Mustafa Kemal. He was exiled by the British to Malta on 16 March 1920 and was freed in October 1921. Then he settled in Ankara where he established an ophthalmic clinic. He worked at the Istanbul University's Faculty of Medicine between 1931 and 1933. He died of heart failure in Istanbul on 1 November 1936. His son was Hasan Esat Işık who served as the foreign minister of Turkish.

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* 20th-century Turkish physicians 20th-century Turkish politicians 1865 births 1936 deaths Physicians from Istanbul Turkish ophthalmologists Academic staff of Istanbul University Malta exiles {{Turkey-med-bio-stub