Graduate Student Res. Assist. Hande Vural Çelik Accepted as Visiting Researcher at the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford

Hande Vural Çelik, a graduate student in our department and a research assistant, has been accepted as a Visiting Researcher at the History of Science Museum, University of Oxford for the Spring 2025 academic semester.

At Oxford, Vural Çelik will conduct a project titled "Standardisation of Ottoman Measurement Instruments", which investigates how scientific tools used in the Ottoman Empire were developed, standardized, and embedded in administrative, commercial, and scientific practices. The research explores how measurement instruments served not only as technical devices but also as instruments of governance and knowledge-making within the broader political and intellectual contexts of their time.

Engaging with historical artifacts, archival sources, and the museum’s rich collections, she will examine the role of standardization in shaping epistemic authority and administrative control. Her work contributes to both Ottoman studies and global history of science by situating Ottoman practices within comparative frameworks of early modern scientific development.