It is the 51st anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landingThe Google Doodle program celebrates this by commemorating the scientific legacy of Turkish astrophysicist Dilhan Eryurt.
Eryurt lived from 1926 to 2012, studied in Turkey and worked, among other institutions, at NASA. Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and the University of California, according to a short biography compiled by a group of astrophysicists.
Eryurt’s research focused on stellar astrophysics, particularly of main sequence stars like our sun You can read some of his publications. here.
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In the Google Doodle, Eryurt is shown looking at a star-filled sky, as well as some planetary bodies, including the moon and a Saturn V rocket, a nod to his time at NASA during the Apollo Program.
In the late 1970s, he was also part of a group of scientists who encouraged the Turkish government to establish a national observatory, according to a paper telling the story of astronomy in Turkey.
The project started in 1991 and made its first observations in 1997.
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