The Adıvar - Sarton correspondence:
A testimony to the emergence of Turkish history of science

Feza Günergun

George Sarton (1884-1956) and the Turkish historian of science Adnan Adıvar (1882-1955) exchanged letters for more than twenty years. While witnessing to the evolution of Turkish history of science in mid-twentieth century, these letters document an evolving friendship and mutual esteem between the two colleagues, and their exchange of ideas.

The correspondence started in 1932 with a letter from A. Adıvar to George Sarton. At the time, A.Adıvar was working in Paris on the relationship of science and religion in the course of history (to be published in Turkish in 1944 in Istanbul) and writing his book La Science chez les Turcs Ottomans which would see the press in 1938 in Paris. Marveled by the recently published Introduction to the History of Science (1927) that he examined thoroughly, he wrote his first letter to G.Sarton, introducing himself as "a Turkish student in history of science", a title which derives not only from A.Adıvar's well known modesty, but also because he considered Sarton as "The Master" of history of science. Their correspondence seems to have ended in 1954, a year before Dr. Adıvar died in Istanbul. The authors met personally in the United States in 1947 and in Turkey in 1953.

The present article aims to examine the twenty-nine letters conserved in the Harvard University Houghton Library, mostly written from A.Adıvar to George Sarton, with the aim of finding the peculiarities of Turkish history of science in its formation period (mid-20th c.), and shed light to its relation with the international community of historians of science.

Key words: Adnan Adıvar, George Sarton, Turkish History of Science; Anahtar kelimeler: Adnan Adıvar, George Sarton, Türk bilim tarihi.