Taqi al-din's Observatory at Péra

Translated by Cem Pulathaneli

The last quarter of the 16th century saw the establishment of an observatory in Istanbul. The founder was the Ottoman astronomer Taqi-al-din (d. 1585) who started celestial observations with the aim of improving the astronomical tables (zij) of Ulugh Beg of Samarkand. The present text is the Turkish translation of "Das Observatorium des Taqi-ed-din zu Pera" published in Der Islam (Berlin) in 1923, by J.H. Mordtmann, German orientalist and diplomat. The article brings together the information found in European and Ottoman sources regarding the observatory and presents the licence given by Sultan Murad III to Taqi al-din, entrusting him with the foundation of the observatory.

Key words: Taqi al-din, Istanbul observatory, history of astronomy, Ottoman Empire; Anahtar sözcükler: Takiyüddin, İstanbul Rasathanesi, astronomi tarihi, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu.