Abdülhak Adnan Adıvar (1882-1955), physician, liberal politician, and historian of science, published his pioneering study entitled La science chez les Turcs Ottomans (1939) in Paris. The small volume was received with genuine interest by Western scholars. The second revised and enlarged edition published in Istanbul: Osmanlı Türklerinde İlim (1943) caused controversy among Turkish intellectuals: Adnan Adıvar was lauded a as ‘savant’ by some literati, an attribute which he immediately shied away from. He was not deterred by chauvinistic reactions either. What Adıvar esteemed was criticism that would allow him to reconsider his reading of primary sources, and to position his conclusions in a universal perspective. Prof. Fuat Köprülü’s recension published in the daily Akşam was of particular significance. It is noteworthy that Adnan Adıvar himself had earlier expressed similar views in his assesment of Süheyl Ünver’s Selçuklu Tababeti (1940). Hasan Ấli Yücel was both a personal supporter and a critique of Advar

Abdülhak Adnan Adıvar (1882-1955), physician, liberal politician, and historian of science, published his pioneering study entitled La science chez les Turcs Ottomans (1939) in Paris. The small volume was received with genuine interest by Western scholars. The second revised and enlarged edition published in Istanbul: Osmanlı Türklerinde İlim (1943) caused controversy among Turkish intellectuals: Adnan Adıvar was lauded a as ‘savant’ by some literati, an attribute which he immediately shied away from. He was not deterred by chauvinistic reactions either. What Adıvar esteemed was criticism that would allow him to reconsider his reading of primary sources, and to position his conclusions in a universal perspective. Prof. Fuat Köprülü’s recension published in the daily Akşam was of particular significance. It is noteworthy that Adnan Adıvar himself had earlier expressed similar views in his assesment of Süheyl Ünver’s Selçuklu Tababeti (1940). Hasan Ấli Yücel was both a personal supporter and a critique of Advar.