Nüzhet Gökdoğan

Nüzhet Gökdoğan was born on 14 August 1910 in Istanbul (then Constantinople).[4] Her mother was named Nebihe Hanım, while her father was Mehmet Zihni Toydemir, a major general.[2]

In her late teens, Gökdoğan received a scholarship to study in France; she enrolled in the University of Lyon and in 1932 she completed her undergraduate degree in mathematics. She had a strong interest in astronomy and subsequently studied physics at the University of Paris,[1] where she received a Diplome d'Etudes Superieures.[3] She then completed an internship at the Paris Observatory.[1]

Returning to Turkey in 1934,[4] Gökdoğan applied to work at the Kandilli Observatory, but was turned down because the director did not want a woman working there.[1] She instead joined Istanbul University as a faculty member in the Astronomy Department. She was the first woman member of the school's faculty of science. She completed her PhD three years later, submitting a dissertation entitled Contribution aux recherches sur l'existence d'une matière obscure interstellaire homogène autour du soleil (Contribution to research on the existence of homogeneous interstellar dark matter around the sun).[4] Gökdoğan's dissertation was recorded as the first doctoral thesis completed at Istanbul University's faculty of science.[5]

In 1948, Gökdoğan was made full professor at the university,[4] and also co-founded the Turkish Mathematical Society.[1][6] She served as president of the Turkish Union of Soroptimists in the early 1950s.[7] Upon being elected Dean of Istanbul University's science faculty in 1954, Gökdoğan became the first Turkish woman to serve as a university dean.[4] She was a founding member of the Turkish Astronomy Association that same year, and she served as president of the association for the next two decades.[1] In 1958, she was appointed Chair of the Astronomy Department at Istanbul University, and she held the role for the rest of her time as a faculty member. Gökdoğan worked hard to expand her department, gradually increasing the number of staff from 5 to 18, and she developed a number of new collaborative programs with observatories in France, Italy and Switzerland.[4] She wrote introductory textbooks on astronomy and spectroscopy for students in Turkish high schools.[1] She also co-founded the Turkish University Women's Association,[4] and served as its president more than once.[5]

Gökdoğan was a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU),[8] and in 1961 she became the first national representative of Turkey to the IAU.[4] In August 1961, she represented Turkey as a delegate at an IAU conference in Berkeley, California.[9] During her time as a member in the IAU, she participated in two of its commissions on "theory of stellar atmospheres" and "solar radiation and structure".[8]

She organized a number of national and international astronomy symposiums in Turkey. One of these events in the late 1970s was credited with solidifying broader interest in building a new national observatory.[1][5]

Gökdoğan retired from Istanbul University in 1980.[5]

Gökdoğan married Mukbil Gökdoğan,[5] who was an architecture professor[7] and former minister of public works.[2] They had two children, both of whom grew up to become university professors.[5] Mukbil died in 1992.[4]

Gökdoğan died on 24 April 2003.[5]