Political Immigration and Circulation of Scientific Knowledge: A Case Study on German Geneticists in Turkey after 1933 University Reform

Abstract

After Nazi Party came to power in 1933, many scholars and scientists, had to leave Germany. They went to different countries as refugees and they continued their life and work there. Turkey was one of these countries that hosted these immigrant scholars. In this period, many scientists who had an expertise on life sciences came to Istanbul University and some of them conducted the first studies on genetics. As important as being the first studies in Turkey, the way of the transmission of scientific knowledge and methods which is required for those studies gives us an example of how forced migration could effect this process. In my speech, I will speak of two German geneticists who came to Turkey at these years, Alfred Heilbronn and Curt Kosswig. These two scientists had significant studies on genetics in Germany, but they could carry out these studies only to a limited degree in Turkey. I argue that there are reasons of that failure originated from their forced migration and its reflections on conditions that showed up in Turkish universities at that period, and also on their personal experiences. While I explain these conditions, I will also try to discuss how might have forced migration of scientists effected the transmission of scientific knowledge and formation of new scientific disciplines in Turkey.