Hamit Zübeyir Koşay

He was the son of Ubeydullah Efendi, who was a scholar of the period and Rizaetdin Fäxretdin (close friend of Musa Carullah) a famous scientist, was his brother-in-law. He was sent to Turkey with the support of Rizaetdin Fäxretdin for his education in 1909.

He graduated from Thessalonica Central Secondary School in 1911. At the break of the Balkan War, he returned to Istanbul when he was in Sultaniye. He finished teacher training school in 1916 and became a teacher. After attending courses on ethnography and the Hungarian language at university for the winter semester, he went to Hungary to continue his education where he completed pedagogy.

He was accepted to the Advanced Teachers Training School at Eötvöş Kollegium (Eötvös Loránd University ) with the support of Prof. Ne'meth Gyula. Then he attended the same university's Faculty of Philosophy and received the title of Doctor of Language and Turcology. He went to Germany in 1924 to attend the courses of Prof. Bang Koup at Berlin University and did research at the State Library and museums.

In 1925 he returned to Turkey and worked at the Ministry of National Education. After working as the Inspector of Libraries at the Ministry of Culture he was a director for the Department of Culture, Antique Works and Libraries at the same ministry. He continued as the general director of Antique Works and Museums, board member of Culture Training and for the second time as the director of the Ethnography Museum. He retired on 1 December 1969 after working for two years as deputy director of the Ethnography Museum and consulting general director of Antique Works and Museums.

He died on October 2, 1984, from a heart attack. He is buried at Cebeci Asri Cemetery (Ankara).

• correspondent member of the Hungarian Kőrösi Csoma Science Association,
• member of the German Archaeology Institute (1932),
• correspondent member of the Czech-Prague Eastern Institute (1933),
• correspondent member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "Witterhats" History and Antique Works (1939),
• correspondent member of the Finnish Association of Archeology (1939),
• the permanent honorable member of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences (IUPPS). (1964, Rome),
• founding member of the Turkish Historical Society (April 23, 1930),
• founding committee member of the Turkish Language Association,
• member of the Turkish and Islamic Arts Institute (1955),
• science committee member of the Turkish Cultural Research Institute,
• honorary member of the Turkish Librarians Association,
• honorary member of the Turkey National Committee,
• Head of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) (1957–1965).

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