Metin BALCI

Metin Balcı was born in Erzurum, Turkey, in 1948. He received his “Diplom Chemiker” degree in 1972, followed by a PhD degree in 1976 from the University of Cologne, where he worked with Professor Emanuel Vogel. He did postdoctoral work with Professors Harald Günther (Siegen, Germany), Waldemar Adam (Puerto Rico), and W. M. Jones (Florida).
            In 1980 he joined the Department of Chemistry at Atatürk University and he became a full professor there in 1987. He spent one year (1986) at the University of Cologne and one year (1996-1997) at the Auburn University (USA) as a guest professor. In 1997 he moved to Middle East Technical University in Ankara due to its reputation.
            Metin Balcı has received several prizes, including the 1983 “Junior Research Prize” and the “Scientific Award” in 1989 from TÜBİTAK. Furthermore, he was awarded the “Science Prize” by the Science and Technology Foundation in 1990, and the “Chemistry Prize” by the Chemistry Foundation and the “Science Prize” by the Ministry of Culture in 1991. He has received the Best Teacher of the Year Award (2000, 2003, and 2004) and the Distinguished Teaching Award at Middle East Technical University. His name was given to the NMR labs in the Department of Chemistry, Atatürk University, in 2010. He is an elected member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences.
            His main research interest involves the synthesis of cyclitols, endoperoxides, cyclic strained compounds, bromine chemistry, and heterocyclic compounds. He has published 280 scientific papers and he retired in 2015. He has also published books entitled Basic ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR Spectroscopy (Elsevier, 2005 and Turkish version in 2000 by METU Press). The Reaction Mechanism in Organic Chemistry (in Turkish and English (published by WILEY-VCH) in 2022) and an autobiography, Science Rising from the East, in 2019 (in Turkish) were published by the Turkish Academy of Sciences.
            Metin Balci has always maintained a strong interest in the great outdoors. He enjoys observing nature, hiking, skiing, and reading, as well as world travel.
            Prof. Balci is married and has two children.