Geoffrey Lewis (Turkish scholar)

Geoffrey Lewis (Turkish scholar)

Geoffrey Lewis Lewis CMG FBA (19 June 1920 - 12 February 2008) was Professor of Turkish language at the University of Oxford. He was well known as the author of "Teach Yourself Turkish" and academic books about Turkish and Turkey.

Early Life and Education

Lewis was born in London, England in 1920 and educated at University College School and St John's College, Oxford (MA 1945, DPhil 1950; James Mew Arabic Scholar, 1947).

He was studying classics at St John's College when his studies were interrupted by the war. He served as a radar operator in the Royal Air Force from 1940 to 1945, mainly in Libya and Egypt. On his return to Oxford he switched his studies to Arabic and Persian.

He initially studied Turkish as a hobby: Turkish was not taught at Oxford before Lewis was appointed to his academic post.

Career

* Lecturer in Turkish, 1950-54, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies, 1954-64, Senior Lecturer in Turkish, 1964-86, Oxford
* Fellow, St. Antony's College, Oxford, 1961. [ [http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:vkX2UnPzHlgJ:www.sant.ox.ac.uk/antonians/2005intro3.pdf+%22Geoffrey+Lewis+Lewis%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17 ST ANTONY’S COLLEGE RECORD 2005] ]
* Visiting Professor: Robert College, Istanbul, 1959-68; Princeton University, 1970-71, 1974; UCLA, 1975
* British Academy Leverhulme Visiting Professor, Turkey, 1984
* Professor of Turkish, University of Oxford, 1986.

Honours

* Vice-President, 1972-2003, President, 2003-2008, Anglo-Turkish Society

* Turkish Government Certificate of Merit, 1973
* FBA 1979
* President, British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, 1981-83 (award for outstanding contributions for many years to Middle Eastern studies in UK, 2005).
* President, B'nai B'rith Oxford Lodge, 1989
* Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Exceptional Service Plaque, 1991
* Order of Merit of the Turkish Republic (Liyakat Nişanı), 1998
* Honorary doctorates from the University of Istanbul and the Bosphorus University
* CMG 1999 [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1998/12/98/new_year_honours/244766.stm BBC online] ]
* Gunnar Jarring Lecturer, Stockholm, 2002

Publications

* Teach Yourself Turkish, 1953, 2nd edition 1989
* Modern Turkey, 1955, 4th edition 1974
* (trans., with annotations) Katib Chelebi, The Balance of Truth, 1957
* Plotiniana Arabica, 1959
* (with Barbara Hodge) A Study in Education for International Misunderstanding (Cyprus School History Textbooks), 1966
*"Turkish Grammar". 1967. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-870036-9.
* (with M. S. Spink) Albucasis on Surgery and Instruments, 1973
* The Book of Dede Korkut, 1974
* The Atatürk I Knew, 1981
* Thickhead and other Turkish Stories, 1988
* Just a Diplomat, 1992
*"The Turkish Language Reform: a catastrophic success". 1999 Oxford: Oxford University Press

References

* Who's Who (UK)
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3405161.ece Obituary, The Times, 20 February 2008]


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