About the Author

Bulent Atalay

Bulent Atalay, the author of Math and the Mona Lisa (Smithsonian Books, 2004), and Leonardo's Universe (National Geographic Books, 2009), is a scientist and artist with roots in Turkey, England, and the United States. The Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, NPR, PBS and Wikipedia have all characterized him as a “Modern Renaissance Man — a scientist, artist and author.” Atalay was born in Ankara, Turkey, and now resides in the United States.  His grandfather was a Turkish military officer who survived the Battle of Gallipoli in WWI, only to die while fighting against Lawrence of Arabia in 1916. His father was also a military officer, as well as a diplomat who served as a courier to European capitols during WWII, and subsequently held successive assignments as military attaché to London, Paris, and Washington. Read "A Tribute to General Kemal Atalay."

Atalay received his early education at Eton in England and St. Andrew’s School in Delaware. (The latter institution served as the site of the 1989 Robin Williams film, Dead Poets Society.) He went into physics by accident when a secretary in the admissions office at Georgetown University read his intended career as ‘physicist’ instead of ‘physician,’ and he found he had latent interests in the field. His advanced education includes BS, MS, MA, PhD and postdoctoral studies, completed at Georgetown, Princeton, University of California-Berkeley, and Oxford University.  A professor of physics in Virginia now, he has previously been a member of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford, as well as the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where Einstein spent the last twenty-five years of his life.

An accomplished artist, Atalay has presented his works in one-man exhibitions in London and Washington, and his two books of lithographs — Lands of Washington and Oxford and the English Countryside — can be found in the permanent collections of Buckingham Palace, the Smithsonian, and the White House. Five years after its release by Smithsonian Books in April 2004, his best selling book, Math and the Mona Lisa, has had numerous printings in English, and appeared in twelve languages. His new book, Leonardo's Universe, coauthored with former student Keith Wamsley, was released by National Geographic Books on January 6, 2009, but had already been declared "... one of ten must-have books for 2008," by the Britannica Blog writer (who jumped the gun and released his list on Dec. 30, 2008).

Lectures  - Domestic and Abroad

Professor Atalay, whose permanent home is in Virginia, lectures around the world, mostly on the "A-subjects" — art, archaeology, astrophysics and atomic physics... — admitting he knows much less about the "B-subjects" — businesss, banking, botany... He has addressed physicists, mathematicians and engineers at NASA, Caltech, Stanford, Georgetown, Harvard, and NIST; physicians at Johns Hopkins, the University of Virginia and the NIH. He has addressed the art community at Cornell, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), and the High Museum (Atlanta, GA). He is a regular keynote speaker to gifted students at Thomas Jefferson High School, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. Abroad he has given talks at the Universities of Oxford, Istanbul, Vienna, as well as a number of of universities in Japan and Korea. He is a frequent lecturer on board ships of the Crystal and Silverseas Cruise Lines.

Most recently his venues have included the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic Society, Aspen Institute, Cosmos Club and Yale University.