Mehmet Nadir: An amateur mathematician in Ottoman Turkey

Abstract

This note summarizes the results of a recent survey of all the mathematical work of Mehmet Nadir, a Turkish amateur mathematician and professional educator who lived from 1856 to 1927 during the last years of the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Turkish Republic. It is shown that, although working in isolated and adverse conditions, Nadir was able to establish a continuous correspondence with mathematicians in western Europe and, through his studies in number theory, obtained some results of lasting value.