Bülent Atalay
Bulent Atalay is an American physicist, artist and author of Turkish descent.
The expression “Renaissance man” has become a cliché, overused in our society to describe anyone who displays multiple interests. In the case of Bulent Atalay, he is a true renaissance man — scientist, artist, author, lecturer… — with genuine academic credentials, BS, MS, MA, PhD. A theoretical nuclear physicist, he is the author of numerous technical articles in physics. An artist, his works have been exhibited in one-man shows in London and Washington. His books of lithographs, ‘Oxford and the English Countryside,’ and ‘The Lands of Washington,’ can be found in the White House, Buckingham Palace and the Smithsonian.
Atalay is the author of the best selling book, ‘Math and the Mona Lisa: the Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci,’ initially published in English by Smithsonian Books (2004), and subsequently in ten foreign languages, including Turkish, Japanese, Chinese and Russian, etc. In 2008 his new book, ‘Leonardo’s Universe: the Renaissance World of Leonardo da Vinci,’ coauthored with Keith Wamsley, is scheduled for release by National Geographic Books.
He lectures around the world on art, archaeology, astrophysics, atomic physics… what he described as his “A-subjects.” He claims that his knowledge of “B-subjects…banking, business…” is superficial at best.
Quotes of others about ‘Math and the Mona Lisa’:
• "The broad sweep of Professor Atalay's brilliant mind brings us an approach to understanding the Vincian genius that is so insightful, so original and so well-reasoned that it immediately becomes an essential volume in the canon of Leonardiana. I read this monumental achievement in awe of the author's perceptions." —Sherwin B. Nuland, Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine; Author of How we Die (Winner of the 1994 National Book Award); Author of ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ (2000), Penguin Lives' Series.
• "A masterful examination of the differences and similarities in the sciences and the arts, as embodied by that genius of both fields: Leonardo da Vinci. Professor Bulent Atalay has penetrated Leonardo's mind, in a way that is both highly readable and very informative." —Jamie Wyeth (the youngest member of the three-generation family of distinguished American artists).
• "Bulent Atalay takes us on a delightful romp through millennia and across continents, bringing together art, architecture, science and mathematics under the umbrella of Leonardo's genius. His writing is informed by his artist's eye for beauty, his historian's appreciation of context and his scientist's love of order and symmetry. I read Atalay's description of Leonardo's 'The Last Supper' not long after having visited the masterpiece in Milan, for the first time since its restoration. His words added an unexpected poignancy to that sublime experience. Leonardo is the prototype for the renaissance man-artist, architect, philosopher, scientist, writer. There are few like him today, but Atalay is indeed a modern renaissance man, and he invites us to tap the power of synthesis that is Leonardo's model." —William D. Phillips, the 1997 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics.
Website: http://www.bulentatalay.com