Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi (Turkish: Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi) (1609 – 1640), who lived in the 17th century in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, was the earliest known aviator to have succeeded in flying with artificial wings and landing safely.
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Aviation
According to an eyewitness account given by Evliya Çelebi in the 17th century, Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi, in 1630-1632, glided with artificial wings from the top of Galata Tower in Istanbul and managed to fly over the Bosphorus, landing successfully on the Doğancılar square in Üsküdar.[1] The few people known to have made similar attempts at flight were Abbas Ibn Firnas, an aviator from 9th century Moorish Spain, and Eilmer of Malmesbury, a 12th century English monk, but both were injured in their landings. Ahmet Celebi, because of his vast scientific knowledge was given the name Hezarfen, meaning “a thousand sciences” (polymath). In his early studies of flying, he was motivated by the 10th century Turkish scientist Ismail Cevheri. Ahmet Celebi arranged a public demonstration after carefully studying Cevheri’s findings. He climbed the Galata Tower and launched himself into the wind; he passed over the Bosphorus and landed in the slopes of Üsküdar on the Anatolian side. This event created a great sensation. Sultan Murad IV was delighted and wanted to give an award to Hezarfen but religious leaders and palace advisors -- being envious of Hezarfen -- soon made the Sultan change his mind.[1] Hezarfen was exiled to Algeria where he soon died at the age of thirty-one.[1] Being one of the three airports in Istanbul, Hezarfen Airfield is a good example of the Turks' fidelity to this hero. Hezarfen's brother, Lagari Hasan Çelebi, is said to have performed the first flight with a rocket in a conical cage filled with gunpowder. Word of their successful flights soon reached England by 1638, when the flight attempts of Turks were mentioned by John Wilkins in his Discovery of a New World.[1]
Popular culture
İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında (Istanbul Under My Wings, 1996) is a film about the lives of Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi, his brother Lagari Hasan Çelebi, and the Ottoman society in the early 17th century, during the reign of Murad IV, as witnessed and narrated by Evliya Çelebi, the greatest traveler of the Ottoman period whose books provide us most of the knowledge that we have today on the Ottoman cities, provinces and daily life as a whole.
See also
- Lagari Hasan Çelebi, brother and aviator
- History of hang gliding
