Fuat Sezgin

His best known publication is the 17-volume update to the History of the Arabic Written Tradition (Geschichte des Arabischen Schrifttums), a standard reference in the field.

Fuat Sezgin studied at Istanbul University Faculty of Letters. The recorded working language is Turkish, Arabic and Syriac. The field of work recorded is oriental studies, Islam and history of science. Employment is recorded with Goethe University Frankfurt. Works named in the authority record are Tārīkh al-Turāth al-ʻArabī (al-shiʻr ilá Ḥawālī sanat 430 H) and Science and technology in Islam: catalogue of the exhibition of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Distinctions recorded are Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, King Faisal International Prize in Islamic Studies, Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt and Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards.

• Name — Fuat Sezgin • Born — 24 October 1924 • Birthplace — Bitlis, Turkey • Died — 30 June 2018 • Place of death — Istanbul, Turkey • Education — Istanbul University • Occupation — Science historian academic • Spouse — Ursula Sezgin • Awards — King Faisal International Prize Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Awards

Sezgin earned his Ph.D. from Istanbul University under the German Orientalist Hellmut Ritter in 1950. His thesis titled "Buhari’nin Kaynakları" (The Sources of Al-Bukhari) argued that, contrary to the common belief among European orientalists, Al-Bukhari's edition of collected Hadiths was based on written sources dating back to the 7th century as well as oral history. He obtained a position at Istanbul University, but was dismissed in the wake of the 1960 coup. He moved to Germany in 1961 and started working as a visiting professor at the University of Frankfurt. He was appointed professor at the university in 1965. His research in Frankfurt focused on Islam's Golden Age of Science. In 1982, Sezgin established the Institute of the History of the Arab Islamic Sciences. Today the Institute houses the most comprehensive collection of texts on the history of Arabic-Islamic science in the world. In 1983 Sezgin also founded a unique museum within the institute, bringing together more than 800 replicas of historical scientific instruments, tools and maps, mostly belonging to the Golden Age of Islamic science. A very similar museum was opened in 2008 in Istanbul, located next to Gülhane. In 1968, Sezgin found four previously unknown books of Diophantus' Arithmetica at the shrine of Imam Rezā in the holy Islamic city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.

On 24 September 2012, Melih Gökçek, Mayor of Municipality of Metropolitan Ankara, announced that a square in Ankara was to be named in honor of Fuat Sezgin. A relief of him, created by artist Aslan Başpınar, in the square was revealed by the mayor, in the presence of Fuat Sezgin and his spouse Ursula.