Ordal Demokan (January 13, 1946 – October 29, 2004) was a Turkish

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Biography

Born in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, Demokan graduated from TED Ankara Koleji in 1962, and received his BSc and MSc degrees on Electrical Engineering in 1966 and 1967 from Middle East Technical University (METU) in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. He received TUBITAK scholarship between 1964 and 1967. He received his PhD degree on physics from University of Iowa in 1970, through Fulbright scholarship between 1967 and 1969 and University of Iowa Education Scholarship. In September 1970, he started working as an assistant professor at Middle East Technical University, in Department of Physics. The plasma physics research in METU is initiated by Ordal Demokan in 1972 with his establishing the plasma physics laboratory. He acquired the title of Associate Professor in 1976. In 1978–1979, he worked as director of

TAEK The Turkish Energy, Nuclear and Mineral Research Agency was formed from other agencies and the Turkish Atomic Energy Authority which was the official nuclear energy institution of Turkey. The headquarters is located in Ankara Ankara ( , ...

Plasma and Laser Department. Between 1979 and 1981, he was in

Jülich Research Centre Jülich (; in old spellings also known as ''Guelich'' or ''Gülich'', nl, Gulik, french: Juliers, Ripuarian: ''Jöllesch'') is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. As a border region betwe ...

's Institute of Plasma Physic as a guest researcher, working on TEXTOR

Tokamak A tokamak (; russian: токамáк; otk, 𐱃𐰸𐰢𐰴, Toḳamaḳ) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being ...

Experiment. Afterwards he returned to newly founded

Gazi University Gazi University ( tr, Gazi Üniversitesi) is a public university primarily located in Ankara, Turkey. It was established in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as Gazi Teacher Training Institute. In 1982, it was reorganized by merging with the Bolu ...

in Turkey in 1982, where he worked in Faculty of Technical Education between 1982 and 1983. In 1983 he was the chairman of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. In 1984 he returned to METU, where he was the assistant chairman of the Department of Physics between 1984 and 1985. He received the title of Professor in 1988. He was killed in a car crash on October 29, 2004, in Ümitköy, Ankara, when a motorist hit him while he was crossing the road. Driver was a 17-year-old boy, who had no driver's licence. He was buried at Cebeci Asri Cemetery in Ankara.

References

METU Physics Department History
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Kaybettiklerimiz Ankara Kolejliler, Sayi 79
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External links

* Information in Turkish Wikipedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Demokan, Ordal Scientists from Istanbul Turkish physicists 1946 births 2004 deaths Pedestrian road incident deaths Academic staff of Middle East Technical University Road incident deaths in Turkey Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery