Taqi al-din's biography from Nevizade Atai's Hadaikü'l-hakaik

Translated by Cahid Şenel

Hadaikü'l-hakaik compiled by Nevizâde Ataî (1583-1635), an Ottoman kadi, is an appendix to the biographical work of Taşköprüzade's (1495-1561) Eş-Şakayık un-numaniyye and collects the biographies of Ottoman sultans, vizirs, scholars and sheikhs who lived between 1558 and 1634. It also comprises the biography of the astronomer Taqi al-din (1521-1585), the founder of the observatory which operated in Istanbul between 1575 and 1580. This paper includes the transliteration of Taqi al-din's biography that was published in the 1852 edition of Hadaikü'l-hakaik. A Turkish translation is appended to the transliterated text. Ataî, while giving biographical data on Taqi al-din provides relevant information about the location and the subsequent demolition of his observatory.

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