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Prof. Turhan Nejat Veziroğlu

In Memoriam

Prof. Emeritus University of Miami, Florida.
Founder and Former Pres. International Association of Hydrogen Energy

We were saddened for the passing of our Prof. Veziroğlu in Sept. 2024 at age of 100. He was the founder and former president of the IAHE International Association of Hydrogen Energy. He had studied at ITU Istanbul Technical University. His exceptional leadership and example in science and education will continue guiding us and our youth globally. Mr. Veziroğ​lu was born in Istanbul, Üsküdar, Türkiye in 1924. He attended middle school at Pertevniyal Lyceum, Istanbul. He studied at ITU Istanbul Technical University and later received B.Sc. at University of London in 1946, along with an ACGI in mechanical engineering. In 1947, he received the DIC in engineering and technology from the Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. In 1951, Veziroğlu wrote his PhD thesis at the University of London.

Veziroğlu returned to Türkiye after graduating, joining the Turkish military for compulsory military service. He worked as an engineer and scientific advisor for the Office of Soil Products in Ankara from 1954 to 1956. He was an engineering consultant in Istanbul during 1957 and 1958, then worked in his family's business, Veziroğlu Construction Company, as technical director from 1959 to 1961.
In 1962, Veziroğlu became an associate professor at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, becoming full professor of mechanical engineering there in 1966. He was made a full member of their research faculty in 1969, serving as Director of Graduate Studies from 1965 to 1971, and as chairman of the department of Mechanical Engineering from 1971 through 1975.
Veziroğlu created the first engineering PhD program at the university, and in 1974 was organizer of a conference on hydrogen energy.

He also accepted a visiting professorship to the Middle East Technical University. In 1973, shortly after the energy crisis, Veziroğlu established the Clean Energy Research Institute within U. of Miami, and was its director from 1974 onward. He organized a conference on hydrogen energy in 1974. He became Associate Dean for Research in 1975, and maintained that role through 1979. He was a visiting lecturer at Xi'an Jiatong University during the summer of 1980, and a visiting lecturer at the Atomic Research Laboratories in Argentina during the summer of 1985.

Veziroğlu has co-authored over 300 scientific papers, and was a founding editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. Veziroğlu was also named honorary editor-in-chief of Engineering Science and Technology, The International Journal of Sciences and Engineering: Research and Applications, and International Scientific Journal for Alternative Energy and Ecology.

In his seventies, Veziroğlu took a leave of absence from the University of Miami, becoming founding director of UNIDO-ICHET. He returned to his professorship in 2007, and on May 15, 2009 became professor emeritus. In 2010, the 10th International Conference on Clean Energy was dedicated to his work.

He was founding editor of the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and founder of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. He was president of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, initiator of the World Hydrogen Energy Conference, and initiator of the World Hydrogen Technology Convention.

Honors
  • Chair, commission on energy, World Constitution and Parliament Association (WCPA)
  • Turkish Presidential Science Award, 1975.
  • Medal of the City of Paris,  Paris, France, 1977.
  • Kurchatov Medal from the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow,  USSR, 1982.
  • 1995 science award, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, January 1995.​​

Prof. Veziroğ​lu, Uzaktaki Başarılar, TRT 2018 Successes Far Away, TRT Turkish Radio Television Corporation, 2018
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