Our First Female Mechanical Engineer Altan Edige
The first women in the engineering profession have a special place in society. These women are engineers who have courage, creativity and leadership in their characters. The first women to enter the engineering profession, which is still considered unsuitable for women today, set an example for women of the future and showed society that they can be as successful as men. After the declaration of the Republic, women were encouraged and supported to enter professional business life in every way. The first female engineer Sabiha Rıfat, the first electromechanical engineer Nezihe Önay and the first mechanical engineer Altan Edige were the pioneers of female engineers. Female engineers were initially looked down upon by workers, but later they began to be respected as “female engineers” and their numbers increased day by day. The first female engineer to graduate during the Republic period was Sabiha Rıfat Gürayman, who graduated from the School of Engineering in 1933[1]. After graduating from Istanbul Girls’ High School, she applied to the School of Engineering in 1927. In a letter written to the Ministry of Public Works by the school administration, it was stated that she could continue her education as a day student. Sabiha Rıfat started school as a day student and later applied to study as a boarding student, but the Directorate did not accept her as a boarding student[2]. Sabiha Rıfat, who graduated as a civil engineer with Melek Erbul in the same class in 1933, is known as the first Turkish female engineer. In Turkey, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering education began at the “Electromechanics Institute” opened in Istanbul Darülfünun in October 1926, and the first female student to register for the electromechanics department was Nezihe Önyay in 1933. After the Electromechanics Department of the Faculty of Science was transferred to the School of Higher Engineering in 1935, she completed her six-year education and graduated from the Electromechanics Department of the School of Higher Engineering on June 15, 1939[3]. In February 1938, the electromechanics department was divided into two, the “Mechanics-Electrical Department” and the “Electrical and Communications Department” were established, and these departments produced their first graduates in 1940. Accordingly, it is understood that Nezihe Önyay graduated from the electromechanics department before the branches were separated. In the Electromechanics Branch, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Technical Drawing, General Mechanics, Applied Machinery and Balance, Design Geometry, Technology (Machine Elements), Strength of Objects, Workshop, Dynamics and Kinematics, Electrochemistry, Electrical Measurement, Electrotechnics, Hydraulics, Heat Engines, Turbo Engines, Water Engines, Telegraph and Telephony were taught. When we look at the content of the courses, we see that they are mostly mechanical engineering. Nezihe Önyay can be called both a mechanical engineer and an electrical engineer, but it would be best to introduce her as an electromechanical engineer. The School of Advanced Engineering was taken from the Ministry of Public Works by law in 1941 and connected to the Ministry of Education. Later, on August 24, 1943, the name of the Mechanical-Electrical Branch was changed to “Mechanical Branch” and the name of the Electrical and Communications Branch was changed to “Electrical Branch”. Under the Machinery Branch, the Machinery, Aircraft and Marine Construction branches were opened, and under the Electrical Branch, the Electrical and Communications branches were opened. The School of Advanced Engineering was transformed into Istanbul Technical University with the law enacted on July 12, 1944, and the Faculties of Civil, Architecture, Mechanical and Electrical were established[4]. Consequently, the mechanical engineer diploma also began to be given after 1944. The first woman to receive a mechanical engineering diploma in Turkey was Altan Edige. The youngest of four children of Crimean Turks Colonel Şehabettin Edige and Fatma Talat Edige, Altan was born on December 15, 1927 in Beşiktaş, Istanbul. Altan completed her primary education at Mimar Sinan (Tekirdağ) Primary School. After completing secondary school in Isparta, she studied at a German High School for two years and then transferred to Beyoğlu Girls' High School[5]. Altan's older brother Orhan Edige was a textile engineer who graduated from Germany. His uncle Celalettin Edige was a textile engineer who was one of the directors of Sümerbank and he made great contributions to the establishment of the factories of the late Sümerbank. Having engineer elders in the family made Altan love engineering. The year he finished high school, on September 15, 1947, he applied to the Technical University and stated on his university application form that he wanted to enter the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering first, and if there were no more places there, he wanted to enter the Faculty of Architecture or Electrical Engineering. He passed the exam and registered to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering with the number 2122 in the 1947–1948 academic year[6]. While he was attending the faculty, they lived in the same apartment building in Şişli with Prof. Kudret Mavitan, the head of the Aircraft Department. He submitted a petition to transfer to the Aircraft Department at the end of 1949. However, for some reason, he later gave up on the Aircraft Department and on 18.4.1951, he submitted a petition again and wrote, “I was assigned to the Aircraft Department in the 1949–1950 academic year. This time, I definitely want to continue in the General Machinery Department. I respectfully request permission in this regard” and continued in the General Machinery Department[6]. During his student years, he was one of the successful students of the class in drawing courses such as design geometry and technical drawing. He completed his internship at the Haliç Shipyard and worked on air pumps. In addition to basic engineering courses, he was successful in courses such as Steam Engines, Steam Turbines, Steam Boilers, Refrigeration, Railway Operation, Factory Organization, Water Machines, Heating and Ventilation, Electrical Propulsion, Engine Technique, Aerodynamics and Machine Tools. Altan’s sister, who was also one of the first engineers in Turkey, Fahrunnisa Edige Borchardt, a senior chemical engineer, said of Altan, “He was a very hardworking and quick-witted person. "She could cook, sew, do anything. She would do several things at the same time. We would play cards as a family. Altan would play with a book on his knee, a piece of wool in his hand and cards on the table," she says[5]. During her five-year education, she became a loved and respected person among her friends with her harmonious attitude and hard work. In the 1953 student yearbook[4], her friends wrote that Altan Edige was also a good housewife[7]. “She is the only representative of the elegant gender in our class and the first female Mechanical Engineer trained by our university. She has also proven that she is an exemplary housewife with the delicious vegetable dishes she has cooked in class for two years. For this reason, it is noticed that her health is very good. After flying with an airplane for three years, she made an emergency landing in a field and destroyed it. After this sweet accident, she left the airplane section and took refuge in the bosom of the general machinery. In her last years, it was observed that she greeted her friends (AGA, Agop, Kugi) with exceptional permission. The purpose of the safety pins in her sieves has not been determined. Recently, she has become interested in locksmithing and has tried her strength in Sacidin's closet ." Altan Edige completed her lessons, workshop studies and internship in October 1953. She graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and became the first woman in Turkey to receive the title of "High Mechanical Engineer". After this date, she was now a "lady engineer". After graduating, probably due to the influence of her brother and uncle, she started working at the Kula Textile Factory, the oldest and largest carpet factory in our country, where the most delightful examples of carpet weaving were woven. There, she met Wilhelm Bosselmann, who was also an engineer, and they got married in 1956[8]. After Kula, she worked in Adapazarı for a while and then went to West Germany with her husband and settled in Ahrensburg, a city near Hamburg. In a speech she made in Konya on March 23, 1923, the great leader Atatürk said, "We see with great gratitude and we see that our women everywhere are walking to the level of competing with men on the path of thought and light. It should also be stated with gratitude that our women are nowhere below men. Almost everywhere we see parity between the levels of women and men. This is a matter of pride. It is a source of pride that our women do not lag behind men under less favorable conditions and perhaps even go ahead of men under the same conditions. However, our women should not be proud of this; especially our enlightened women are obliged to show that the unreal and unreal deficiencies that foreigners, enemies and the wretched among us want to attribute to them are truly unreal and unreal. They have shown and proven this in practice, materially, with their clothing, attitude and actions, with everything they do.”[9] Altan Edige, confirming Atatürk's words, became the first female mechanical engineer to show that women could be as successful as men in the field of mechanical engineering. Unfortunately, she underwent major surgery in 1975 and was diagnosed with cancer. At a time when she was at her most productive, she was forced to leave the engineering profession that she loved so much. She retired and succumbed to the disease she caught in 1977. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Cahit Özgür, Ms. Fevziye Topçu, Ms. Tanju Edige and Ms. Fahrunnisa Edige Borchardt for their encouragement, support and help. Author: Prof. Dr. Abdurrahman KILIÇ Sources: [1] Istanbul Technical University Archives, File No. 20, Serial No.8211 (2008). [2] Istanbul Technical University Archives, File No. 54, Serial No.8977 (2008). [3] DÖLEN, Emre; Istanbul Darülfünunu Faculty of Science, Electromechanics Institute (1926-1935), Proceedings of the 1st Turkish Science and Technology History Congress, pp. 114-154 (2001). [4] ULUÇAY, Çağatay and KARTEKİN, Enver, “Higher Engineering School”, ITU Library, Issue:389, (1958). [5] BORCHARDT, Fahrunnisa Edige, Private Interview, Istanbul (2010). [6] ITU Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Student Archives, Altan Edige File (1953). [7] Faculty of Mechanical Engineering 1953 Student Yearbook, Istanbul (1953). [8] EDİGE, Tanju, Private Interview, Istanbul (2010). [9] İNAN, Afet; “Rights and Duties of Turkish Women Throughout History”, National Education Printing House, p. 141, Istanbul (1975)
