Bülent Atalay

Who is Bülent Atalay?

Bülent Atalay is a Turkish-American author, scientist, and artist. Born in Ankara, Turkey in 1940, 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 in 2004, and subsequently in eleven foreign languages. His new book, Leonardo’s Universe: the Renaissance World of Leonardo da Vinci, coauthored with Keith Wamsley, was released by National Geographic Books in late 2008, and immediately listed among Encyclopædia Britannica Blog's "Ten Must-Have Reference Books from 2008."

A theoretical nuclear physicist, he is the author of numerous technical articles in physics. He has been a professor of physics for four decades at the University of Mary Washington, an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia, and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He lectures around the world on his expertise in the "A-subjects" —art, archeology, astrophysics and atomic physics... while claiming little knowledge in the "B-subjects" — business, banking, biology...

An artist, his works have been exhibited in one-man shows in London and Washington D.C., and his books of lithographs — “Lands of Washington: Impressions Ink” and “Oxford and the English Countryside: Impressions of Ink” — were both published by Eton House in the 1970s, but are no longer in print.