Dear students, worthy faculty members and assistants; experts, office staff and candidate students who wish to enroll in our faculty;

We can summarize the objective in the establishment of the Science Faculty of Istanbul University, the oldest science faculty in our country, which was founded as a result of the University Reform of 1933 (Reform of Dar-ül Fünun) and which in the ensuing years comprised many world-famous Turkish and foreign scientists as "contributing to the formation of a country that will welcome 22nd century by taking into consideration and utilizing the modern scientific and social values, accumulation of knowledge, by making original contributions to this pool of knowledge".

Science faculties are institutes that assimilate, improve and disseminate scientific knowledge. These institutes and natural sciences are supported and given great importance also by far-sighted directors who look for pivotal points to shape the future.

By combining the education they get to become scientists in the first place with the completion of a graduate education with no thesis, graduates of the faculty become well equipped educators or successful people of our society in different professions as a result of the strong foundation their science education lays.

Our faculty is surrounded by a campus that was established with the momentum of the establishment of the Republic, that provides a perfect physical environment improved from generation to generation, which makes students, academicians and all its staff feel like they belong to the university, which gives them personality and confidence, that is right at the center of the city to which transportation is easy and which has an easy campus life.

Astronomy and Space Sciences, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Genetics Departments and various departmental divisions, each like an oasis, proceed with education and scientific research.

While they take advantage of the vast experience, cultural and scientific heritage of Turkey's oldest university and one of the leading universities in the world, the faculty members and assistants, who are an integral part of our faculty, shape also the future by the strength of their contributions.

Information technologies, laboratories and the great opportunities presented by the educational facilities are utilized most efficiently, advances and our original ideas and production are combined with the former, research proliferates with the projects of the Scientific Research Projects Division, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), Turkish Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK), State Organization Department (DPT).

The range of activity in the international and domestic student exchange programs has gradually been increased. The aim is to achieve the highest efficiency by assimilating program objectives.

21st century will be a century marked by those societies that determine sound strategies in science and technology, which put these strategies into practice and which will create a state of welfare by turning this into economical gain. If we wish to be among these countries and obtain a prestigious position within the league of civilizations, we should continue in our path without straying from the guiding principles: "The truest guide in life is knowledge, science. It is injudicious, an act of ignorance, of going astray to look for a guide other than knowledge and science" and "The foundation of the Turkish Republic is culture" set forth by the person who established the Republic. Consequently, the Science Faculty of Istanbul University, that is the first science faculty of our country, bears great responsibility.

With the hopes of generating together and sustaining the energy and synergy that the Science Faculty needs, of being together as we grow stronger over the years and of handing over to the coming generations a faculty with increased prestige and activity by the steps we will take...

Prof. Dr. Baki AKKUŞ