Bülent Atalay

American author

Bülent Atalay (born 1940) is a Turkish American educator, author, scientist, and artist. Born in Ankara, Turkey in 1940, Atalay is the author of the best selling book, Math and the Mona Lisa: the Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci, initially published in English by Smithsonian Books in 2004, and subsequently in 13 foreign languages. A more recent book, Leonardo’s Universe: the Renaissance World of Leonardo da Vinci, coauthored with Keith Wamsley, was released by National Geographic Books in late 2008, and immediately listed among Encyclopædia Britannica Blog's "Ten Must Have Reference Books from 2008." He is also a blog writer for National Geographic Newswatch. A theoretical nuclear physicist, he is the author of numerous technical articles in physics. He is a professor emeritus of physics, having taught for four decades at the University of Mary Washington, an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia, and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He lectures around the world on his expertise in the "A subjects" – art, archeology, astrophysics, atomic physics and Atatürk while claiming little knowledge in the "B subjects" – business, banking, biology He is currently the President of the Atatürk Society of America, dedicated to the ideals of the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, most importantly, the secular governance. An artist, his works have been exhibited in one man shows in London and Washington D. C., and his books of lithographs – "Lands of Washington: Impressions Ink" and "Oxford and the English Countryside: Impressions of Ink" – were both published by Eton House in the 1970s, but are no longer in print. Copies of his books of lithographs can be found in the permanent collections of the White House, the Smithsonian Institution and Buckingham Palace. He frequently serves as a special topics lecturer on board ships of the Crystal Cruise Line and Seabourn Cruises.

B. Atalay, Organizing Chair and Editor; Yuval Ne'eman, Honorary Chair. Committee II: "Symmetry in Its Various Aspects: Search for Order in the Universe I " International Conference on the Unity of the Science XXI. Washington, DC (1997). Paragon House Publishing Co. Multiple Authors. B. Atalay, Organizing Chair and Editor, Committee I: "Symmetry in Its Various Aspects: Search for Order in the Universe II." International Conference on the Unity of the Science XXII, Seoul, Korea (2000). Paragon House Publishing Co. Multiple Authors. B. Atalay, Ed. M. Alonso, "Mathematical Model for the Origin of Life: The Emergence of Self Replicating Molecular Systems." Organization and Change in Complex Systems, Paragon House Publishing Co. (1990). Multiple Authors. B. Atalay, A. Mann, "A Note on the Jeziorski Piela Perturbation Theory," Acta Physica Polonica, A51, 275 (1977).