Dilhan Eryurt Google Doodle celebrates today the life and work of the Turkish astrophysicist

Today, Google Doodle honors the life and work of Turkish Professor of Astrophysics Dilhan Eryurt.

Who was Dilhan Eryurt Google Doodle celebrates today the life and work of the Turkish astrophysicist

Today, Google Doodle honors the life and work of Turkish Professor of Astrophysics Dilhan Eryurt.

Professor Eryurt was born in 1926, to enjoy a distinguished career that saw her participate in the Apollo 11 landing 51 years ago.

After a period of achievement in astrophysics and astronomy, she unfortunately died at the age of 85 in her hometown of Turkey on September 13, 2012, due to a heart attack.

Who was Dilhan Eryurt?

Professor Eryurt was born in Izmir, western Turkey, on November 29, 1926.

At a young age, her family moved from the city on the Turkish Aegean coast to Istanbul, the country's cultural and economic center.

The family moved again shortly thereafter, as Turkey's largest city traded with its capital, Ankara.

It was here where Professor Ewerort sharpened her gift of mathematics, which she eventually went to study at the university, in Istanbul.

While studying at the University of Istanbul, Professor Eriurt developed an interest in astronomy.

This interest flourished in the following years, and she saw her help open the Department of Astronomy at the University of Ankara, before obtaining her doctorate in 1953 after spending time at the University of Michigan.

Professor Eriurt later moved to Canada for two years with a scholarship from the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1959, then went to the United States, first to Indiana University, and then to the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland.

At that time, she was the only astronomer to work for the institution.

Her work at Goddard Institute included major breakthroughs in improving our understanding of the sun.

She learned that the star's brightness had decreased over the age of 4.5 billion years, which means it was warmer and brighter in the past.

Her research proved to be central to planning spaceflight at the time.

In recognition of her contribution to the Apollo 11 landing on the moon in 1969, Professor Eriurtat received the Apollo Achievement Award.

She later moved to work at the University of California, where she studied the formation and development of major serial stars - an ongoing group of stars that appear on stacks of stellar colors vs. brightness.

Professor Eryurt continued her research until 1973, when she returned to Turkey permanently to take a position at the Technical Middle East University, in Ankara.

She temporarily returned five years ago to organize the country's first national astronomy conference.

A few years after returning home, Professor Eriurtt was awarded the Tübitak Science Award in 1977.

She eventually retired in 1993, pushing her illustrious career to an end.

Unfortunately she died 19 years later in Ankara on September 13, 2012, due to a heart attack.