Born as Karl Edward Hammerschmidt, he was an Austrian physician and naturalist who took refuge in the Ottoman Empire after the 1848 Vienna Uprising and became known as Macarlı Abdullah Bey.
In 1850, he began teaching zoology, geology, and mineralogy at the Imperial Military School of Medicine in Istanbul — marking the first time these sciences were included in higher education in Turkey.
🔬 From the 1860s, he focused on geological research across Istanbul, Bursa, and Uludağ, collecting over 2,000 fossils, 1,200 of which were exhibited at the 1867 Paris World Fair. One trilobite he discovered was named Cryphaeus Abdullahi in his honor.
📌He established Turkey’s first natural history museum.
đź“ŚAfter converting to Islam, he took the name Abdullah.
📌He also contributed to the foundation of Kızılay (Red Crescent), though his name is sadly absent from its current records.
đź“š Abdullah Bey holds a lasting place in the history of Turkish geology and science.
We remember him with respect.