Hakkı Boran Ögelman


Hakkı Boran Ögelman was a Turkish physicist and astrophysicist. He was an expert on gamma ray astronomy, the physics of neutron stars, and solar energy and worked on several key topics in modern astrophysics. He made many contributions to high energy astrophysics. In his early professional career he engaged in the SAS-II Small Gamma Ray Astronomy Satellite experiment development, data analysis, and first detection and imaging of our universe in gamma rays with his NASA colleagues, as well as in other fields of physics. His main interests in the field of astrophysics were the study of gamma ray astronomy and compact objects such as neutron stars and pulsars. Ögelman worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey, Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey, Max Planck Institute at Garching, Germany and the University of Wisconsin.

First years

Hakkı Ögelman was born in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8, 1940. His father was Salehettin Ögelman, a lawyer, and his mother Vedya Özlem Ögelman, a schoolteacher.

Education

Hakkı Ögelman attended English-language Robert College in Istanbul, receiving his baccalaureate in 1957, then went to the U.S. to further his education. He received his B.A. in physics from DePauw University in June 1960 and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1963 and 1966, respectively. He married a DePauw classmate, Ivy White.

Early career

After his 1966 graduation from Cornell, Ögelman did one year of postdoctoral research at the University of Sydney, Australia. He then worked at Goddard Space Flight Center from September 1967 to January 1970 as National Academy of Sciences Research Associate.

Turkey and METU

In February 1970 Ögelman decided to return to Turkey, so that he could contribute his experimental research and teaching capabilities to his country. He was hired as an associate professor in the Middle East Technical University Physics Department, and was appointed department chairman that same year. He started an experimental High Energy Astrophysics group specializing in gamma ray astronomy—at the time, a fledgling new field—and took on graduate students for the group's M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs. Ögelman also started a new solar energy group to train graduate students to address Turkey's energy needs. Additionally, he worked with the METU's Carbon-14 Dating Group, led by Yeter Goksu, a physics department colleague who would later become his second wife.
During Ögelman's time at METU, his astrophysics group's major projects used data of NASA's SAS-II gamma ray telescope. With this group and his former NASA colleagues, Ögelman co-authored several critical papers on gamma ray astronomy published using the SAS II data. Their work covered the premiere satellite based detection of gamma rays from celestial objects, the observation of galactic gamma ray emission from compact objects including the Crab Nebula, and the discovery of Geminga.
The SAS II gamma ray telescope's successful results during the 1970s brought gamma ray astronomy of age and established it as the newest astrophysics field. Under Ögelman's leadership, his group carried out actual data analysis at METU with graduate and undergraduate students, and contributed significantly to the SAS II project's success. By that time the once-fledgling field of gamma ray astronomy had since grown into a major science utilizing numerous other space-based and balloon-born telescopes, and many important discoveries have been made extending astronomy to the high energy region.
In 1973 Ögelman took a leave of absence from METU to complete his army service. In 1974 he took a sabbatical leave of absence to serve as a National Academy of Sciences Senior Research Associate at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, working with his colleagues at NASA's Gamma Ray Astronomy Group led by Dr. Carl E. Fichtel. Ögelman returned to METU in 1975, becoming a full professor in 1976.
In 1977, at the invitation of the president of Çukurova University in Adana, Turkey, Ögelman took another leave of absence and with three of his METU colleagues moved to CÜ to start and establish its Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Becoming the founding Dean of the faculty, he decided to take students without delay, and the group started classes in barracks. Eventually, Ögelman arranged for funding from the Ford Foundation and the USAID to start a modern research laboratory in the campus. He also took an interest in the local economy and needs of the people, and encouraged the faculty to research in fields with most benefit to the region. One of the most important topics to address at that time concerning physics was Turkish society's energy needs. Ögelman gave priority to solar energy research in the Physics Department because in the Cukurova region there is plenty of sunshine throughout the year. To this end, as he had at METU, he started research in solar energy, building Turkey's first energy efficient solar house and a solar pond. Ögelman left CÜ in 1982 to return to METU but continued working with his previous students as colleagues on astrophysics.
From July 1983 to July 1985, Ögelman again took a leave of absence from METU, spending the period as a guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Munich, Germany. Ögelman then became a resident scientist at MPE and worked there from July 1985 to January 1991. He started working on X-ray data of the Einstein and Exosat satellites. After the launch of the hugely successful ROSAT Observatory led by Principal Investigator Joachim Trümper at MPE and developed through a cooperative program between Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Ögelman became one of the main investigators with this satellite. ROSAT performed the first all sky surveys with imaging telescopes, leading to the discovery of 125,000 X-ray and 479 EUV sources. In addition the diffuse galactic X-ray emission was mapped with unprecedented angular resolution. Most of the mission time was devoted to pointed observations at selected targets. In total 4,580 PSPC and 4482 HRI fields were covered with observation times between ~ 2,000 sec and ~ 1 Million sec. 700 Scientists from 24 countries were involved in these pointed observations. The total number of ROSAT based publications is 4787, with 54,9 % in referred journals. Ögelman took part in the analysis of ROSAT data from the beginning and published some of his most exciting research work.
In 1983 he proposed X-ray observations of a classical nova in outburst with Exosat. The nova turned to be a luminous X-ray source in the lowest range of X-ray energy proving the thermonuclear burning on the surface of a white dwarf, thought to be the cause of the outburst. With ROSAT Ögelman and collaborators could establish that novae in outburst are among the most luminous sources in the X-ray sky.
In 1988 Ögelman was awarded Turkey's highest scientific honor, the Sedat Simavi Prize. In 1991, he received the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council Prize. He represented Turkey on international science councils and co-operations, and served on NASA committees and working groups. He was instrumental in the 1991 establishment of the Turkish national astronomic observatory for TÜBİTAK. Around this time Ögelman's second marriage ended. He began seeing and subsequently married an Italian astronomer, Marina Orio; they spent the remainder of his life together.

University of Wisconsin

At Max Planck, Ögelman had met the University of Wisconsin astrophysicist Prof. William F. "Jack" Fry, who would become a good friend and mentor. Fry returned to the University of Wisconsin from MPE with an interest in building up the Wisconsin astrophysics program by adding a high energy astrophysics group to complement the astroparticle/neutrino group. He persuaded Hakki Ögelman to join the Wisconsin faculty, first as a visiting professor from January 1991 to September 1992, and, then, from the end of 1992, as a full-time professor. One of Ögelman's METU students, Prof. A. Baha Balantekin, was already at Wisconsin University Physics Department, having arrived in 1986.
During Ögelman's tenure at Wisconsin, he continued to pursue his interest in compact objects, and published roughly sixty papers on the subject between 1991 and 1998. As time passed and experiments became larger and more institutional, Ögelman devoted an increasing amount of time to data analysis and worked on analyzing the data from major X-ray missions such as the ROSAT Telescope, Beppo-SAX, and AXAF.
While at Wisconsin, Ögelman visited METU, Sabanci and/or Çukurova Universities in Turkey regularly, practically every summer. He visited and worked with his former graduate students Profs. Umit Kiziloglu, Mehmet Emin Özel, Akif Esendemir, Solen Balman and with Ilhami Yegingil at CÜ—all of whom had become professors by this time—and also with Prof. Altan Baykal. Ögelman especially spent significant amount of time with Prof. Ali Alpar at Sabanci University, a private, technically oriented school in Istanbul on pulsar research and jointly publishing several papers, which he considered to be some of his best work. Ögelman also took part and/or organized several scientific symposiums, conferences meetings with his colleagues in Turkey.
In 1997, Ögelman suffered a major stroke. His life was saved by the intervention and treatment of University of Wisconsin doctors. He returned to work after his recovery and carried on working on his research but at a slower pace. Life was difficult for him because his movement was limited. In the spring of 2011 Ögelman's declining health forced his retirement.

Personal life

Ögelman loved music, literature, and sports. He was a competitive wrestler in college and a black belt in judo. Ögelman in his later years also turned his robust intellect and attention to exploring sustainable solutions to the changing climate and the world's evolving energy needs. He was an active member of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Ögelman enjoyed time and travel with his three sons and a daughter-in-law, Kenan Ögelman of Austin, Texas, Nedim and Laura Ögelman of Purcellville, Virginia, and Roberto Ögelman of Madison, Wisconsin, and two grandsons; Anders and Soren Ögelman, of Purcellville, Virginia.
Hakki Ögelman died on September 4, 2011. In his memory, the Turkish Astronomical Society established the Hakki Ögelman Summer Schools, to "offer intense summer training to undergraduate and graduate students of astronomy from all over Turkey, in physics, computation and other subjects related to research in astronomy." The Turkish Philanthropy Funds coordinates international contributions to this project.

Positions held

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