History
The precursor of Istanbul University was the University of Constantinople, sometimes known as the University of the palace hall of Magnaura. In the Roman-Byzantine Empire it was founded in 425 under the name of Pandidakterion. The original school was founded in 425 by Emperor Theodosius II with 31 chairs for law, philosophy, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, rhetoric and other subjects, 15 to Latin and 16 to Greek. The university existed until the 15th century.
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople a madrasa, a religious school, was established. An institution of higher education named the Darülfünun-i Osmani ('House of Sciences') was created in 1863, but suppressed in 1871. Its first rector was Hasan Tahsini, regarded as one of the most important Ottoman scholars of the 19th century. In 1874 the Imperial University (Darülfünun-i Sultani) started to give lectures in law in French, but was closed in 1881.
The Imperial University, now known as Darülfünun-i Shahane was refounded in 1900, with the departments of theology, arts, mathematics, science and philology. In 1924, the faculties of law, medicine, arts and sciences were established in Istanbul University (Istanbul Darülfünunu), as the university was now called. Islamic theology was added in 1925, but in 1933 the university was reorganized without the latter.
The first modern Applied Physics courses were given at the Darülfünûn on 31 December 1863, which marked the beginning of a new period, and on 20 February 1870, the school was renamed as the Darülfünûn-u Osmanî ('Ottoman House of Multiple Sciences') and reorganized to meet the needs of modern sciences and technologies. Starting from 1874, some classes of Literature, Law and Applied Sciences were given at the building of Galatasaray High School, which continued regularly until 1881. On 1 September 1900, the school was renamed and reorganized as the Darülfünûn-u Şahane ('Imperial House of Multiple Sciences') with courses on Mathematics, Literature and Theology. On 20 April 1912, the school was renamed as the İstanbul Darülfünûnu ('Istanbul House of Multiple Sciences') while the number of courses were increased and the curricula were modernized with the establishment of the Schools of Medicine, Law, Applied Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics), Literature and Theology.
On 21 April 1924, the Republic of Turkey recognized the Istanbul Darülfünûnu as a state school, and on 7 October 1925, the administrative autonomy of Istanbul Darülfünûnu was recognized while the "Schools" (within the old Medrese system) became modern "Faculties". On 1 August 1933, Istanbul Darülfünûnu was reorganized as Istanbul University (İstanbul Üniversitesi) following the educational reforms of Atatürk. Classes officially began on 1 November 1933.
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