Asâr-ı Bâkiye: An unpublished translation project (circa 1960)

Hülya Şenkon

Together with the Kamus-i Riyaziyât (Encyclopaedia of Mathematics), the Asâr-ı Bâkiye isSalih Zeki's major work on the history of mathematics and astronomy. The first volume covering the history of spherical trigonometry and the second treating the history of arithmetics were both published in Istanbul in 1913. The third volume on astronomy remained unpublished.

A project of translating the first three volumes into modern Turkish was initiated by Nazım Terzioğlu (1912-1976) professor of mathematics at Istanbul University in early 1960s or possibly earlier. A commission composed of professors of mathematics, astronomy, physics and history of medicine was formed in 1961 to decide on the publication of Salih Zeki's works. The manuscript of the Asâr-ı Bâkiye translation which consists of 411 type-written pages is actually kept in the archives of the Turkish Mathematical Society. The present paper aims to introduce this translation which could not be published for reasons unknown to us.

Key words: Salih Zeki, Asâr-ı Bâkiye, Islamic science, history of mathematics, history of astronomy, Turkish Mathematical Society; Anahtar Kelimeler: Salih Zeki, Asâr-ı Bâkiye, İslam bilimi, matematik tarihi, astronomi tarihi, Türk Matematik Derneği