Transferring Technical Knowledge To Turkey: American Engineers, Scientific Experts, and the Erzincan Earthquake of 1939

dc.authorid Tunc, Gokhan/0000-0002-8307-1060
dc.authorid Tunc, Tanfer Emin/0000-0002-2922-3916
dc.authorscopusid 16837636200
dc.authorscopusid 6603220627
dc.authorwosid Tunc, Gokhan/T-8015-2017
dc.authorwosid Tunc, Tanfer Emin/G-4995-2017
dc.contributor.author Tunc,T.E.
dc.contributor.author Tunc,G.
dc.contributor.other Civil Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-05T15:18:49Z
dc.date.available 2024-07-05T15:18:49Z
dc.date.issued 2022
dc.department Atılım University en_US
dc.department-temp Tunc T.E., Department of American Culture and Literature, Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, 06800, Turkey; Tunc G., Department of Civil Engineering, Atlllm University, Incek, Ankara, 06830, Turkey en_US
dc.description Tunc, Gokhan/0000-0002-8307-1060; Tunc, Tanfer Emin/0000-0002-2922-3916 en_US
dc.description.abstract On 27 December 1939, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Erzincan, Turkey, claiming close to 33 000 lives, and leaving 100 000 injured and 250 000 homeless. World War II was in its initial stages, and the USA was particularly concerned about the vulnerable situation in Turkey, since there was a possibility that it would join forces with Germany, as the Ottoman Empire had done in World War I. Consequently, the Turkish request for information on 'a type of quake resistant concrete construction understood to have been developed in California', resulted in a flurry of correspondence between numerous Turkish and American actors, including the US State Department, which supplied this material with notable attentiveness. As this article will argue, this request not only represents an early critical juncture in the transfer of earthquake engineering knowledge from the USA to Turkey, but also illustrates how diplomacy and engineering can intersect at pivotal points in time. Engineers and other scientific experts strengthened the Turkish-American relationship during this period, thereby laying the foundation of the technical cooperation that would flourish during the Cold War. This watershed moment also resulted in immediate developments in Turkey, such as the development of a comprehensive national disaster management programme, a seismic zone map, and earthquake building codes. © 2021 The Author(s). en_US
dc.identifier.citationcount 5
dc.identifier.doi 10.1098/rsnr.2020.0054
dc.identifier.endpage 406 en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0035-9149
dc.identifier.issue 3 en_US
dc.identifier.scopus 2-s2.0-85133736879
dc.identifier.scopusquality Q1
dc.identifier.startpage 387 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.2020.0054
dc.identifier.volume 76 en_US
dc.identifier.wos WOS:000634539000001
dc.identifier.wosquality Q4
dc.institutionauthor Tunç, Gökhan
dc.institutionauthor Tunç, Gökhan
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Royal Society Publishing en_US
dc.relation.ispartof Notes and Records en_US
dc.relation.publicationcategory Makale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanı en_US
dc.rights info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess en_US
dc.scopus.citedbyCount 7
dc.subject earthquake en_US
dc.subject engineering en_US
dc.subject Erzincan en_US
dc.subject technology en_US
dc.subject Turkey en_US
dc.subject USA en_US
dc.title Transferring Technical Knowledge To Turkey: American Engineers, Scientific Experts, and the Erzincan Earthquake of 1939 en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.wos.citedbyCount 6
dspace.entity.type Publication
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relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication.latestForDiscovery 01fb4c5b-b45f-40c0-9a74-f0b3b6265a0d

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