TÜBA Honour Member Prof. Dr. Nimet Özgüç Passes Away
TÜBA Honour Member Prof. Dr. Nimet Özgüç passed away on 23 December 2015.
Main research field of Prof. Dr. Özgüç was the “Asia Minor Archeology”, particularly “Anatolia”. He was a full member of German Archaeology Institute, American Archaeology Institute Foreigner Honorary Member, Turkish Historical Society Honorary Member and honorary member to several international academic and professional organisations.
Following the ceremony to be organized at the University of Ankara Languages and History-Geography Faculty Farabi Hall on Friday at 11:00, the funeral of Prof Dr Nimet Özgüç is going to be moved from the Kocatepe Mosque as of the mid-afternoon prayer – at 14:00 – and he is going to be buried at the Karşıyaka Cemetery.
We would like to offer our condolences to her family and the scientific community. May God rest her in peace.
Who is Prof. Dr. Nimet Özgüç?
She was born in Adapazarı on 15 March 1916 as the third child of her family. She was among the first students of the Languages and History-Geography Faculty in 1936. She completed her education in 1940 and became an assistant. She had her doctoral degree in 1943. She became an associate professor in 1949 and a professor in 1958. She left her job in Ankara University in 1984 and continued her scientific studies. She got married to the Archaeologist Tahsin Özgüç. After 1941, she participated to the excavations in Dündartepe, Kavak-Kaledoruğu and Tekkeköy around Samsun. After 1947, she worked in Elbistan surface research and Karahöyük excavation and in Toprakkale and Maltepe excavations in Sivas. She contributed valuably to Kültepe excavations that began in 1948 and has lasted until present. With the excavation she began in Niğde Acemhöyük in 1962, she revealed a significant Hittite centre. Between 1972-1975, she conducted a rescue excavation in Tepebağları Mound close to Niğde and she revealed a settlement with findings from the Iron Age to the Byzantine Age. In 1978, she undertook the excavations in Adıyaman Samsat Mound within the scope of ODTU-Lower Fırat Rescue Excavations.
She retired from her job in Ankara University in 1984. In 1996, she became a TüBA Honorary Member.
In 2010, thanks to his outstanding contributions to the science of archaeology, she was granted the Culture and Art Grand Prize by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism together with Prof. Dr. Halet Çambel, who was also a TüBA Honorary Member and deceased in 2014.