[CHEMIST DR. ALI RIZA BEY (1867-1904)].

Abstract

Ali Riza Bey was born in Istanbul in 1867. He graduated from the Imperial School of Medicine (Mekteb-i Tibbiye-i dhine) in 1888 and was sent to France six months later to specialize in chemistry. After staying there for four years, he returned to Turkey in 1892. Besides teaching courses in biochemistry, analytical chemistry and organic chemistry at both the military and civil schools of medicine and at the University (Dariifiinun), Ali Riza Bey managed the laboratory of chemistry at the Imperial School of Medicine. In 1902, he was appointed as a chemist at the Hamidiye Children's Hospital (Hamidiye Etfal Hastahanesi) where he would conduct significant research on analyzing and bottling the mineral waters of Afyonkarahisar. He also developed a reagent for detecting cystine. In 1901, he published a textbook titled Kimya-yi Uzvi (Organic Chemistry) in which he used chemical symbols written in Arabic letters, and which indicates that he closely followed the recent developments in the organic chemistry.