Nefise Akçelik (b. 1955,

Muratlı Muratlı is a municipality and district of Tekirdağ Province, Turkey. Its area is 388 km2, and its population is 30,067 (2022). It is located at 24 km north of the town of Tekirdağ and on the railway line from Istanbul to the Bulgaria ...

- d. 5 October 2003) was a Turkish

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

who specialised in building tunnels. The

Ordu Nefise Akçelik Tunnel Ordu Nefise Akçelik Tunnel (), originally Hapan Tunnel, () is a highway tunnel constructed in Ordu Province, northern Turkey. With its length of , it was the country's longest tunnel at the time of its opening. The tunnel is named in honor of the ...

is named in her honour.

Early life and education

Akçelik was born in the

district of

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ () is a city in northwestern Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. The city forms the urban part of the Süleymanpaşa district, with a population of 186,421 in 2022. Tekirdağ ...

in Turkey in 1955. She completed her secondary education at Erenköy Kız Lisesi’ the Erenköy Girls' High School in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Age 16, Akçelik enrolled in the civil engineering department of Karadeniz Teknik Üniversitesi (KTÜ) where she was the only female student in her department. Akçelik graduated from university in 1976 at the age of 20, having learned English and French as well as civil engineering. In 1989, Akçelik earned a master's degree from the Department of Geotechnics in the Institute of Science at

Gazi University Gazi University () is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded in 1926 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk originally as the Gazi Education Institute (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Gazi Eğitim Ens ...

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and received the title of technical chief.

Career

In 1978, she started working at the General Directorate of Highways Technical Research Department, in the Ground Mechanics and Tunnels Branch Directorate. She was appointed as chief of tunnel and structures, then promoted to become deputy branch manager and branch manager. Akçelik worked on over 200 tunnel and

geotechnical Geotechnical engineering, also known as geotechnics, is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics to solve its engineering problems. I ...

projects in her career. She prepared specifications for tunnel projects, construction and road engineering services. Akçelik wrote two books on problems in tunnel construction and weak ground problems and precautions on highways and authored 21 articles which were published in national and international conference proceedings. Akçelik spoke at the conference on the Use of Underground Structures organised by the International Tunneling and Underground Space Association in Istanbul in October 2002 and contributed to the organisation's international working groups. She was known for helping to support other women engineers. Nefise Akçelik retired in September 2003.

Personal life

Nefise Akçelik, married her colleague İbrahim Ethem Akçelik in 1978. The couple had a daughter, Oya, in 1979 and a son, Oğuz, in 1989. According to her husband, Akçelik was a socialist, anti-capitalist, anti-militarist and internationalist. She died on October 5, 2003, of complications from cancer.

Commemoration

The Hapan Tunnel, which Akçelik was involved in building but did not live to see completed was renamed the

in her honour in 2007. The highway

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

is in

Ordu Province Ordu Province () is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey, located on the Black Sea coast. Its area is 5,914 km2, and its population is 763,190 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Samsun to the northwest, Tokat to the southwest, ...

, northern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. At a length of 3,825 m (12,549 ft), it was the country's longest tunnel at the time of its opening. Nefise Akçelik was commemorated at the 31st International Tunneling and Underground Space Association World Tunneling Congress in 2005.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akçelik, Nefise 2003 deaths 1955 births Turkish civil engineers Erenköy Girls High School alumni People from Istanbul People from Tekirdağ Gazi University alumni Turkish women Turkish women engineers