Dilhan Eryurt

Dilhan Eryurt was a Turkish astrophysicist who made major contributions to scientific research on the formation and evolution of the Sun and other main sequence stars. She was the first Turkish woman to work as a scientist at NASA and received the Apollo Achievement Award for her role in the Apollo 11 mission. Eryurt was born on November 29, 1926 in İzmir, Turkey. Her father was Abidin Ege, who was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for Denizli Province in 1944. She moved to Istanbul and then Ankara with her family during her childhood. She developed a keen interest in mathematics and astronomy and pursued her studies at Istanbul University. She graduated in 1946 and worked as an honorary assistant for Tevfik Oktay Kabakçıoğlu. She was assigned to open an Astronomy Department at Ankara University, where she also completed her doctorate in 1953. Eryurt continued her academic career abroad, working with prominent astronomers such as Alastair G. W. Cameron and Marshall Wrubel. She also taught herself how to use computers for her research. In 1961, she joined NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, where she was the only woman astronomer at the time. She collaborated with Cameron on research on solar evolution and discovered that the Sun was much brighter and hotter in the past than it is now. This finding was crucial for the planning and execution of the Apollo 11 mission, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Eryurt was awarded the Apollo Achievement Award for her contribution to the mission. In 1973, Eryurt returned to Turkey and established the Department of Astrophysics at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. She was also the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Arts from 1988 to 1993. She retired in 1993 and died in Ankara on September 13, 2012, due to a heart attack. She was buried at the Cebeci Asri Cemetery. Eryurt was a pioneer in her field and a role model for many young women who aspire to pursue careers in science. She was also honored with the Tübitak Science Award in 1988 and a Google Doodle in 2020. Her legacy lives on in her publications and her students, who continue to advance the knowledge of astrophysics.