Hasan Tahsini
| Hasan Tahsini | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born | 7 April 1811 Ninat, Konispol, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 3 July 1881 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire |
| Residence | Preveza, Shkodër, Paris, Istanbul |
| Nationality | Albanian |
| Fields | astronomy, psychology |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Influenced | Jamal-al-Din Afghani, Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan |
Hasan Tahsini (7 April 1811 – 3 July 1881) also known as Hoxha Tahsin was an Albanian astronomer, mathematician and philosopher. He was the first rector of Istanbul University and one of the founders of the Central Committee for Defending Albanian Rights. Tahsini is regarded as one of the most prominent scholars of the Ottoman Empire of the 19th century.
Hasan Tahsini was born in 1811 in the village of Ninat, Konispol, Albania (then part of the Ottoman Empire). His father Osman Efendi Rushiti was a member of the ulama. When he was young he worked as tutor to the sons of Hayrullah Efendi, Minister of Education of the Ottoman Empire. Hayrullah Efendi later appointed Tahsini to the staff of the Ottoman school of Paris, where Tahsini taught Turkish and religious sciences, while also being the imam of the Ottoman embassy and a student of mathematics and natural sciences at the University of Paris. He studied in Paris for twelve years after being sent there by Resid Pasha, who was trying to create a Westernized ulama elite. In 1869 Tahsini returned in the Ottoman Empire to accompany the body of Fuad Pasha who had died in Nice.
In 1870 he became the first rector of the newly established Istanbul University, where he gave lectures on physics, astronomy and psychology. The government appointed Tahsini as rector as it was believed that he could establish a balance between western European and Islamic methods and ideologies. However, at that time Tahsini's scientific research, unreserved liberalism and alleged relations to freemasonry led to him being frequently attacked by conservative ulama circles The attacks against Tahsini began when he conducted experiments in order to illustrate the notion of vacuum to his students. Tahsini placed a pigeon underneath a glass bell, emptied the receptacle and the pigeon eventually suffocated proving Tahsini's theory. The conservative circles considered Tahsini's experiment as evidence of witchcraft and performance of magic. After the experiment he was declared a heretic through a fatwa, dismissed from the university, and disallowed to give lectures. The university was also closed for a period because Jamal-al-Din Afghani, another professor influenced by Tahsini, supported his theories.
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