Emin Halid Onat

Who was Emin Halid Onat?

Emin Halid Onat, was a Turkish architect and former rector of Istanbul Technical University.

Onat was born in Istanbul in 1908. He entered Istanbul Technical University in 1926. Then, he was sent to Zurich Technical University. Onat was one of the architects of Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Onat's architectural talent blossomed at Zurich Technical University, where one of his fellow students was Otto Rudolf Salvisberg, who later went to become one of the best architects of his time. Onat completed his studies in Zurich and returned to Turkey in 1934. Within a year, he had become an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at the School of Engineering. He held the post for a couple of years that were marked by strenuous relations with the other members of the faculty, owing to the novel methods of teaching Onat introduced. In 1944 Onat became the first dean of the newly established Faculty of Architecture at the Istanbul Technical University.

Onat rose further into the echelons of the architectural world in 1946, when he was given an honorary membership of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1951 he became the Rector of the Istanbul Technical University, a post he held for two years. The Hannover Technical University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1956. In 1957 he returned to the university. His return lasted only three years as on 21 October 1960 he and 147 faculty members were ousted from the university.