I'm Hasan Ali Çelik.

Turkish American Author

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics

Hasan Ali Çelik was born in 1941, in the village of Çat (now Çağlayan) in the Taurus Mountains near Konya, Turkey. After finishing the village elementary school, he was able to get into the İvriz Village Institution in 1953, which ended up a steppingstone for Çelik to further his education in various schools and universities in İstanbul and Ankara in Turkey, and in USA.

Çelik studied four years in the boarding school, İvriz Village Institution, where he learned and excelled in playing violin, which enabled him to transfer to Çapa Teacher Training School in Istanbul, in 1957. In 1959, he was selected to join the newly established school Advanced Teacher Training School in conjunction with the University of Ankara, studying mathematics and astronomy. In 1962, he transferred to the Middle East Technical University, (METU), earning Batcheler and master’s degrees in 1964 and 1965. While working as an adjunct faculty at METU, Çelik earned a scholarship in 1966 to study for a Ph.D. degree in USA. After graduating with a PH.D. degree in mathematics from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1971, Dr. Çelik wanted to go back to his home country Turkey but METU did not renew his contract. He then became a faculty member of the Department of Mathematics at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, (Cal Poly, Pomona), in 1971.

While Dr. Çelik working as a faculty member at Cal Poly Pomona for forty years, he made frequent research trips to Turkey, teaching and collaborating with colleagues at several universities in Ankara, Adana, Konya, Antalya, Istanbul and İzmir, and in University of Oslo in Norway. His professional writings include articles in abstract algebra and in history of mathematics, a Turkish book Elemanter Cümleler Matematiği ve Uygulamalaarı – a translation from English, and various editions of the textbook, Elementary Linear Algebra.

Çelik’s early work experience was helping his father, every summer during his school vacation times until he started to university; his father earned his livelihood as a travelling salesman with his mules as beast of burden, in distant villages, selling such things as pottery, knives, and raisins, which were produced in his village Çat, with bartering with grains of various kind of the visited villages. During those traveling trips, Çelik and his father walked 30 to 50 kilometers daily; his job was taking care of one of the mules. Those long walking treks, visiting some 70 different other villages gave Çelik the chances to observe different local customs and lifestyles, preparing him for future endowers like running marathons and writing stories of the diminishing cultures of the people. He ran 21 full marathons including Boston, St George, Los Angeles, Alaska, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Seattle, Stockholm, Minnesota, Big Sur, Silicon Valley, Napa Valley, and Long Beach California.

During his university years in Ankara, Çelik worked as a tutor and was able to help his family.

His retirement years activities include writing books, both in Turkish and English, playing violin, traveling, and spending time with his three grandchildren.

Çelik is an active member of the Turkish-American community of Southern California, and he served as president of the Association for three years.

Dr. Çelik lives and gardens with his wife in Claremont, California.