More About Me

I’m doing a PhD in Astrophysics and Physics at Michigan Tech. At the same time, I have been working for NASA’s top visited public outreach platform Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) about four years now. 

My grandfather was the first to introduce press machines to our city—a visionary who became a highly respected journalist. After his sudden passing, streets were named in his honor. My father, who was only a teenager at the time, chose to walk the same path. I grew up to the rhythmic thumping of press machines, in a room that sometimes smelled of ink and paint thinner. While my father worked, I played with metal sorts, arranging letters to form words. As the world shifted to digital, so did my playground. I became fascinated by the software my father used to design newspapers and magazines—Photoshop, Quark, CorelDraw. I still remember creating my very first journal, struggling to write an opinion piece with the limited vocabulary of a child. But you know what? I had so much fun. Why would a kid enjoy something like that? Maybe because, without knowing it, a third-generation journalist was already beginning to find their voice.

But I was always deeply drawn to science. My father never pushed me toward his world—I found my own way into it, naturally and willingly. My journey into public outreach and science communication began in 2014, when I joined a popular astronomy page on Facebook called Kozmik Anafor (Cosmic Whirlpool). In time, what began as a shared passion grew into something more—a website we launched together, an idea I quietly nurtured, which eventually became the most visited astronomy platform in Turkey. In 2016, during my third year as an undergraduate, I lost my father unexpectedly. I wasn’t as young as he was when he lost his own father—but still too young to have fully appreciated all that he was.

The following year, on the anniversary of my journalist father’s passing, I founded my own popular science platform, Rasyonalist.org (The Rationalist), in his memory.

Expanding beyond astronomy into a wide range of scientific fields, Rasyonalist quickly grew—supported by a vibrant community of science communicators—into one of the most trusted science platforms in Turkey. For many Turkish-speaking students, it became a much-needed resource in a landscape where astrophysics books were often outdated translations, written in a language that made complex ideas even harder to grasp. Over the years, I wrote more than 300 articles and served as editor for nearly 1,000. Together with our team, we helped fill a critical gap in accessible science education—and, in doing so, inspired others to join the effort. At the same time, I worked for companies that organize major science events and collaborated with Science and Society Centers’ to teach kids science.

During this time, I graduated as valedictorian and enrolled in a Master’s program within my department, primarily to take advanced courses in general relativity and cosmology while preparing to study abroad. Continuing in the same department was never my long-term goal, as internal issues left little room for academic growth. After completing the coursework, I made the decision to withdraw. However, an unexpected and serious health crisis forced me to put my plans to study abroad on hold. Life took a sharp turn.

Seeking a fresh start, I made bold move transitioned into a new and promising research environment—the iBG Institute—where I began a Master’s in Molecular Biology and Genetics. How did I got accepted? Well funny story, but I did internship in a micology lab –after the professor saw my images on Facebook where I create my own lab in my room. 

But I did not intend to study molecular biology, I joined a lab focused on biomedical imaging, contributing to an SD-OCT imaging project while completing the required coursework. I enjoyed most of the classes and learned a lot about biology. But, I eventually had to step away once again.

Disillusioned by the academic climate in Turkey, I abandoned my PhD aspirations—at least for a time. Even changing fields in such an unorthodox way couldn’t offer a solution to the deeper systemic issues I encountered.

Then, shortly after COVID hit. And one day, I decided to log in to my Facebook account that I have been ignoring for a while. The very first thing I saw was a post from NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day. They were looking for a graduate student.

In 2024, we merged Rationalist with the top popular science platform Evrim Ağacı (Tree of Evolution). Rationalist was a complete voluntary effort, everyone contributed from their own time and experience, even from our own pockets to pay for its needs. Hence, the merger was for free, but for education.

Beyond writing, I have collaborated with major science outreach and education organizations, participated in workshops as an educator and organized large-scale events both as a professional and a volunteer for teaching science to kids and students. Most recently, I worked as a script/scenario writer for Barış Özcan YouTube, conducted the research, and wrote nearly 70 videos that amassed over 50 million views. 

Besides expressing myself with words, where they are not capable, I use visuals. I have been always interested in visual arts, some for charcoal drawing but mostly photography. Besides doing amateur nature and wildlife photography for almost 15 years, lately, I have sent my professional telescope setup to a remote observatory, Starfront Observatories in Texas, US, where I have been regularly imaging almost every other night. So far, on astrophotographers’ common meeting place Astrobin, my images got 1 Image of the Day (IOTD), 6 Top Picks (TP), and 5 Top Pick Nominations (TPN). My short story of achieving big results with small telescope has been on the cover of ScopeTrader magazine 2024 November issue.