ATATURK AND THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY

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Atatürk, the geometry book written by Atatürk, came to Sivas High School, where the Sivas Congress was held, and the High School Principal and Mathematics teacher Ömer Beygo and his Assistant Philosophy teacher Faik Dranaz and other interested persons came to the Congress hall. Here, he first visited the Congress hall and private room where the historical congress was held on September 4, 1919, and told his memories of that day in this room and hall, whose decor of that day was preserved exactly. Then, as a group, he entered Hendese (Geometry) course in the 9/A class of the High School. In this lesson, he put a female student at the blackboard. The student had difficulty in saying the Arabic names of the angles formed by the intersection of two parallel lines drawn on the board and made mistakes. Impressed by this situation, Atatürk responded by saying, “Students cannot be informed in these incomprehensible Arabic terms. Courses, Turkish, should be described in new terms.” he said, taking the chalk in his hand and using new Turkish terms such as “angle” for “zaviye”, “edge” for “dili”, and “triangle” for “müselles”, with drawings on the board, he covered some Geometry subjects and this Meanwhile, he explained the Pythagoras theorem.

In geometry class at Sivas High School. (November 13, 1937)

While explaining the origin of the term "parallel", which he used to replace the word "parallel", which is equivalent to "parallel" in our language, Atatürk explained that the Turks in Central Asia called the stance of the two wheels of their carts connected to an axle as "para". In this course, Atatürk also ordered that the textbooks be printed in Turkish terms within a few months and delivered to all schools.                      

Source: “Tarihsel Bir Anı”, Ömer L. Örnekol, Bilim ve Teknik, Tübitak Yayını, Kasım 1981, Sayı:180, Cilt:15, Sayfa:16