Ord. Prof. Dr. Ali Yar was born in 1885 in the town of Turuski, at the foot of the Oral Mountains. His father was Ataullah. The family surname was originally "Allah Yar," but due to an error by a census official, it was recorded as "Yar." Ali Yar was of Kazan Turkish descent.

Educational Life

Ali Yar completed his primary education in his birthplace and then moved to Istanbul, where he enrolled at Galatasaray Sultanîsi. There, he completed two grade levels in one year and finished his ten-year education in just six years.

In 1908, he was sent to Paris, where he completed his undergraduate studies at the Sorbonne University. He then attended L’École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique, a prestigious engineering school, and graduated within a year. Thus, he became Turkey’s first and the world’s third aircraft engineer.

Academic Career

Ottoman Period Appointments

In 1912, Ali Yar returned to Türkiye and was appointed as an assistant mathematics teacher at Galatasaray Sultanîsi. A year later, he was appointed as a physics teacher.

In the autumn of 1915, he began serving as Assistant Lecturer in Higher Algebra and Analytical Mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences of Darülfünun.

Republican Period Appointments

• In 1927, he joined the faculty of the Higher Engineering School.
• After the 1933 University Reform, he became one of only three Turkish academic staff members retained in the system and was granted the title of Ordinary Professor. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Sciences for a period following Kerim Erim and left this position in 1939.
• In 1944, with the transformation of the Higher Engineering School into Istanbul Technical University, he joined the faculty of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.
• In 1946, following the adoption of the Universities Law, he began working as a professor of mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences of Istanbul University.
• He retired in 1955.

Courses Taught

Throughout his academic career, Ali Yar taught the following courses:

• 1920–1933: Higher Algebra at Fünûn Medresesi,
• 1926–1929: Higher Algebra at the Institute of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences,
• 1941–1945: Analytic Geometry, Algebra, Introduction to Higher Mathematics (for Chemical Engineering), and Applications of Algebra at the Faculty of Sciences,
• 1944–1945: Analysis I at the Faculty of Sciences.

Works

Books and Translations

Ali Yar translated various mathematical works from French and German into Turkish.

His major works include:

• Müsellesât (translation from Henri Ferval, 1924–1925),
• Müsellesât / Muallim Kitabı (1928),
• Cebir Cilt 1: Temel Bahisler (translation from Oskar Perron, 1946),
• Cebir Cilt 2: Cebirsel Denklemler Teorisi (translation from Oskar Perron, 1948),
• Modern Cebir I-II (translation from Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, 1955, 1957),
• Cisimlerin Cebirsel Teorisi (translation from Ernst Steinitz, 1961),
• Gruplar Teorisine Giriş (translation from Pavlus Sergeyevich Alexandroff, 1962),
• Kozmografya (1933).

These works were prepared to introduce the fundamental concepts of modern algebra and trigonometry to Turkish readers.

Articles

Six mathematical articles by Ali Yar have been identified. Five of them were published in the Darülfünun Fünûn Fakültesi Mecmuası:

• Cebr-i ‘Âdî Meselesi: Algebraic arrangements and graphical representation of hyperbolic curves,
• Cebr-i ‘Âdî: Graphical construction of rectangular hyperbolas,
• Cebir: Analysis of roots and inflection points on the curve y²=x³+bx,
• Muadelâtın Kabiliyet-i Halli Hakkında: Critical analysis of Wroński’s work on high-degree equations,
• Riyazat-ı Sırfede Usul: An article on the philosophy of mathematics, translated from Jules Tannery,
• Sur la forme associée d’un cercle de l’espace: A French-language study on Plücker coordinates.

Kozmografya and Astronomy Education

In 1933, Ali Yar published the book Kozmografya to provide astronomy education at the high school level. The book consists of twenty chapters and covers topics such as celestial movements, the solar system, cartographic techniques, physical observational instruments, planets, and stars. This work served as a model for astronomy instruction in Turkish high schools during the Republican era.