HISTORY

Biophysics was first used in the world in 1892 by Karl Pearson in The Grammar of Science. After Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895, the foundation stones of radiological diagnosis were laid with this medical application; it formed the basic principles of illuminating the physical aspects of the structure, the three-dimensional structure of proteins and other large molecules. In 1910, American educator Abraham Flexner, influenced by Carl Ludwig and his team at the Berlin School, wrote a report on medical education in the USA and Canada, and this report made a sound as a reform for medical schools in 1930, and biophysics was accepted as the “scientific medicine” education criterion. In the early 1920s, Biophysics Institutes were established in German universities to investigate the effects of radiation on organisms. Archibald Vivian Hill, one of the pioneers of biophysics, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1921 for his experiments on heat release in muscle and the results he reached. In 1944, Otto Glasser developed the Dosimeter to measure X-ray exposure and published it in his book titled Medical Biophysics . KS Cole, who is considered the father of American biophysics, defined biophysics as follows: “Biophysics includes everything that is interesting and excludes everything that is not interesting” (Zhou, 2011) .

In the first half of the 20th century, the field of biophysics was dominated by German scientists. They worked on electromagnetic fields and light, and were mostly interested in examining the effects of radiation on living things. The popularity of biophysics rose rapidly with the publication of Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger’s book “What is Life?” (Bischof, 1995). Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray crystallography research played an important role in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA in 1953. In particular, the resolution of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and the precise detailed structure of proteins played a very important role in the emergence of biophysics as a scientific discipline. Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for this successful work.

By the mid-20th century, biophysics programs were gaining popularity in other countries and spreading rapidly. Between 1950 and 1970, there was an unprecedented explosion in biophysics research. Prof. AV Hill’s article ” Why Biophysics ?” published in Science magazine in 1956 played an important role in the recognition of biophysics as a discipline in the world (Hill, 1956). This article discussed the need for biological systems to be explained in quantitative and physical terms. Under the leadership of researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the American Biophysical Society was founded in 1957.

In 1961, the ‘ ‘International Biophysics Congress” was held in Stockholm. X-rays were used to analyze myoglobin and hemoglobin, two proteins essential for life, and it was discovered that they were involved in the transport of gases in the blood. Max Perutz and John Kendrew were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962 for their work on heme-containing proteins. The importance of this work is that it provides a basis for understanding the mechanism of action of enzymes and other proteins, which is an active and productive subject of modern research. In the second half of the twentieth century, the importance of biophysics within biomedical disciplines began to increase. Georg von Bekesy was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1961 for his experiments and interpretations on the mechanism of hearing; Erwin Neher and Bert Sakmann, two biophysicists, one a physicist and the other a physician, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1976 for recording the current passing through a single ion channel with the method they developed; Allan M. Cormack and Godfrey N. Hounsfield were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1979 for developing computerized tomography; and Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2003 for developing the magnetic resonance imaging technique.

With the participation of biophysical societies, the European Biophysical Societies’ Association (EBSA) was established in 1984. EBSA, of which the Turkish Biophysical Society is also a member, is a member of the ” International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics” (IUPAB), where biophysicists are represented worldwide.

Source: Albeniz, I. (2022). History of Developments in Medical Branches.(pp.49-59), Istanbul: Betim Library.

In Turkey

Biophysics in Turkey began to make a name for itself in the 1970s with the pioneering efforts of Prof. Dr. Engin Bermek at Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Dr. Meliha Terzioğlu at Istanbul University – Çerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Dr. Ziya Güner at Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, and Prof. Dr. Erol Başar at Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine. It spread throughout Turkey when the Council of Higher Education first included biophysics among the compulsory courses in Medicine in the early 1980s and then transformed it into a Department.

The Biophysics Association was founded in 1987 under the founding chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Engin Bermek, and has made it a tradition to organize a scientific congress every year since its establishment. Our association was renamed the Turkish Biophysics Association by the decision of the Council of Ministers on 10.09.1998. The number of registered members in our association has exceeded 200 as of 2023.

Turkish Biophysical Society is a member of two important international scientific federations in the field of biophysics: 1) IUPAB (International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics), 2) EBSA (European Biophysical Societies’ Association).

Founding members of the Turkish Biophysics Association

On February 16, 1987, the Biophysics Association was founded under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Engin Bermek, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rüstem Nurten, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sina Gökçe and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Demir Tiryaki. The center of the association was ”Istanbul Medical Faculty Biophysics Department Çapa-ISTANBUL”.

Prof. Dr. Engin BERMEK Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, ISTANBUL.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Demir TİRYAKİ Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, ISTANBUL.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sina GÖKÇE Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, ISTANBUL.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Salih ÇELİK Dicle University, Department of Nuclear Medicine, DIYARBAKIR.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. İlhami DEMİREL Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Department of Biophysics, KONYA.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem ÖZESMİ Erciyes University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, KAYSERI.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rüstem NURTEN Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, ISTANBUL.

Dr. Kıymet SALBAŞ Ankara University Faculty of Medicine, Cardiology Research Center, ANKARA.

Important Dates:

27.11.1989

The Interim Board of Directors of the Biophysics Society met for the first time.

21.05.1990

The first Biophysics Association General Assembly Meeting was held.

29.05.1992

The Second Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of the Biophysics Society was held.

01.10.1994

The Third Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of the Biophysics Society was held.

27.09.1996

The Fourth Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of the Biophysics Society was held.

10.09.1998

The name of the Association, Biophysics Association , was changed to Turkish Biophysics Association  by the decision of the Council of Ministers   .

12.09.1998

The Fifth Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of the Turkish Biophysics Society was held.

22.09.1999

The Turkish Biophysics Association was accepted into the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics with observer status  .

09.09.2000

The Sixth Ordinary General Assembly Meeting of the Turkish Biophysics Society was held.

Important decisions taken at the meeting of the Turkish Biophysical Society General Assembly on September 30, 2010 .

Dear Members of the Turkish Biophysics Association, The 22nd National Biophysics Congress organized by the Turkish Biophysics Association with the cooperation and hosting of the Department of Biophysics of Aydın-Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine was very successful between September 28 and October 1, 2010 at the Adnan Menderes University Congress Center. We would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Dinçer Bilgin and his colleagues who contributed to the organization of a very successful congress despite the time constraints. We have also held our Ordinary General Assembly Meeting, which we are obliged to hold every two years according to our Association Statutes, on September 30 during the period between our congresses. First of all, I would like to present to your information some important decisions taken by our General Assembly, which should be binding on our Board of Directors and all our members.

Some important decisions taken at the meeting of the Turkish Biophysics Association General Assembly on September 30, 2010:

 * It was unanimously decided to approve the agreement made with the company by the previous management regarding the request that the IUPAB congress to be held in Turkey in 2017.

* A principle decision has been made that only those who have completed their doctorate in biophysics or whose doctorate is equivalent to the biophysics field as determined by the Interuniversity Board can be appointed as assistant professors to biophysics departments, and those who have passed the associate professorship exam in biophysics can be appointed as associate professors or professors to biophysics departments.

Dear Members of the Turkish Biophysics Society,

As you know, one of the functions of the General Assembly is to form the Association’s management bodies, which will serve for two years. Our General Assembly accepted the voting as a list, and Prof. Dr. M. Salih Çelik, Prof. Dr. Ferit Pehlivan, Prof. Dr. Necla Öztürk, Prof. Dr. Rüstem Nurten, Prof. Dr. M. Can Akyolcu, Prof. Dr. Nurten Erdal, Prof. Dr. Nizamettin Dalkılıç, whose names were mentioned in the single list, were elected to the Board of Directors.

Decisions of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Biophysics Association  * The Publication Branch will be composed of President Prof. Dr. Ferit Pehlivan, General Secretary Prof. Dr. Necla Öztürk and Member Prof. Dr. Nizamettin Dalkılıç, as stated in our statute; and the Social Activity Branch will be composed of Member Prof. Dr. Nurten Erdal.

* Due to the positive increase in relations with foreign scientific institutions, it was decided to establish a branch called “Relations with Foreign Scientific Institutions Branch” and to carry out the activities of this branch by the 2nd President Prof. Dr. Rüstem Nurten and Member Prof. Dr. M. Salih Çelik.

In line with the directives of our General Assembly, we are continuing our efforts to establish two separate commissions, one on “Biophysics Education” and the other on “Academic Values ​​and Standards of Biophysics”.

We are planning to revive our Bulletin, which we could not continue to publish three issues per year, and continue it electronically. I will explain my project of completing the old issues in detail in the first issue we will prepare for December and ask for your help. Some events increase the need for communication and sharing information among our members in shorter time intervals. I believe that our Bulletin will serve an important function for this purpose.

Dear Members of the Turkish Biophysics Society,

On behalf of our Board of Directors, I would like to thank you for trusting us and electing us to the board. On behalf of all our members, I would like to express my gratitude to our previous Boards of Directors and Presidents for the values ​​they have added to our community. We will try to be a follower of the vast tolerance of our Association’s Founding President and Honorary President Prof. Dr. Engin Bermek, the principled stance of our previous president Prof. Dr. Pekcan Ungan, and the international entrepreneurship of our previous president Prof. Dr. M. Salih Çelik.

I present my love and respect.

Prof. Dr. Ferit Pehlivan,

President of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Biophysics Association

Presidents of the Turkish Biophysical Society

Prof. Dr.ENGİN BERMEK (1987-1998)

Prof. Dr.PEKCAN UNGAN (1998-2006)

Prof. Dr. SALİH ÇELİK (2006-2010)

Prof. Dr. FERIT PEHLIVAN (2010-2014)

Prof. Dr. RÜSTEM NURTEN (2014-2016)

Prof. Dr. MEHMET CAN AKYOLCU (2016-2018)

Prof. Dr. BEKİ KAN (2018-2021)

Prof. Dr. CEMİL SERT (2021-2023)

Prof. Dr.IŞIL ALBENİZ (2023-