Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University from 1987 to 1991. During this time, he concurrently earned a Minor Degree in Physics from 1988 to 1991. Subsequently, he obtained his master's degree in 1993 and completed his doctoral studies in 1995, both in the Department of Physics at Middle East Technical University.
Between 1996-1997, 1998-2000, and 2000-2003, Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir held postdoctoral researcher positions in three different institutions: the University of Pennsylvania, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, and William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute at the University of Minnesota, respectively. Subsequently, Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir worked as a faculty member at İzmir Institute of Technology from 2003 to 2019. Since 2019, he has been a faculty member at Sabancı University.
Professor Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir worked at the DESY research center in Hamburg between 2007 and 2008, having received the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. Among other significant awards he has received are the TÜBİTAK Incentive Award (2005), TÜBA GEBIP Award (2004), Mustafa N. Parlar Foundation Research Incentive Award (1997), and Sedat Simavi Science Award (2001).
Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir was one of the editors of the LHEP Journal. In 2020, he was included among the 'Most Influential Scientists in the World.' Additionally, he was a member of the World Academy of Sciences and he was on the executive board of the Science Academy.
Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir is among the world's leading theoretical physicists. His research interests were particle physics, astroparticle physics and quantum physics. His research subjects were focused on the effects of quantum fields at low energies (quantum tunneling) and high energies (fifth force and emergent gravity).
Florian Bauer
This lets me feel very sad. I met Durmuş at the DESY and enjoyed very much discussing and collaborating with him. We have lost a great friend and scientist.
Tuna Demircik
Durmuş hocayı beklenmedik bir şekilde bu kadar erken kaybetmek beni çok üzdü ve derinden etkiledi. İlk anımsadığım şey; henüz fizik bölümüne başladığımız ilk hafta bizi odasına çağırıp bize fiziğin ne olduğunu, bilim insanı olmanın ne anlama geldiğini, bu işle uğraşmanın ne kadar özel ve heyecanlı olduğunu anlatmasıydı. Durmuş hocanın heyecanı ve bilime karşı sevgisi bulaşıcıydı. Çok özel ve çok yetenekli bir fizikçiydi.
Lisans eğitimim süresince modern fizik, genel görelilik, relativistik kuantum mekaniği gibi temel ve önemli dersleri ondan aldım. Henüz lisans öğrencisiyken TÜBİTAK'tan destek aldığımız bir araştırma projesinde birlikte çalıştık. Lisansın son senesinde bitirme projemde danışmanlık yaptı, bir sene neredeyse her gün birlikte vakit geçirdik. Daha sonra doktora ve postdoc süreçlerimde de hep arkamda oldu ve beni hep destekledi.
Fizikçi olmamda, kafamdaki bilim ve bilim insanı kavramlarının şekillenmesinde etkisi olan hayatımdaki sayılı insanlardan birisiydi. Onunla tanışan herkesin bildiği gibi sevgi dolu, yardımsever, mütevazi, samimi ve neşe dolu bir insandı.
Bir anda aramızdan ayrılışını kabullenmek hiç kolay değil. Sanırım zihnimde her zaman, bir ara nasıl olsa yeniden görüşürüz, heyecanlandığımız şeylerden konuşup daha da çok heyecanlanır ve arayı bir şekilde kapatırız gibi bir düşünce, his var olmaya devam edecek.
Ailesine ve tüm yakınlarına en içten duygularımla baş sağlığı ve sabırlar diliyorum.
Tuna Demircik
Alexander Belyaev
I knew Durmus for more than 20 years .... He was a great person and physicist.
This is very sad news, it is hard to believe what happened…
My deepest condolences to Durmus family and to everybody who knew him…
Paul Langacker
I was very much saddened to learn of Durmus' much too early death. I remember him well from his postdoctoral stay at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a lively collaborator (along with Mirjam Cvetic, Jose Espinosa, and Lisa Everett) on an important paper showing that an additional neutral gauge boson could solve a serious problem with minimal supersymmetry. Later Durmus, Lisa and I collaborated at a distance on a mechanism for small Dirac neutrino masses in supersymmetry. I always enjoyed interacting with Durmus and will miss him.
Umut Gürsoy
Durmuş, Standart Model ötesi parçacık fiziğine önemli katkılar sunmuş, çok aktif ve üretken bir teorik fizikçi idi. Heyecanlı mizacı, zekası, enerjisi, derin fizik bilgisi ve içgörüsü ile türk teorik fizik camiasını temsil eden ve ayakta tutan insanlardandı. Çok genç yaşta kaybettik. Ailesi ve yakın çevresi başta olmak üzere hepimizin başı sağolsun.
Durmuş was a very active and prolific theoretical physicist who has significantly contributed to particle physics beyond the standard model. He was one of the key figures who represented and kept alive turkish theoretical physics community in Turkey thanks to his excitement, sharpness, never ending energy and deep insights. We lost him too early. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends and to worldwide physics community.
Mehmet Ali Olğar
Fizik bilimine böyle değerli bir bilim insanı ile başlamak benim için büyük bir şanstı. Bu kadar değerli bir bilim insanını erken kaybetmekte bütün fizikçiler için büyük bir şansızlık maalesef. Çok üzgünüm Durmuş hocam sizi kaybettiğimize, hatıralarımızda hep o heyecanlı ders anlatımlarınız ve bilim insanı kişiliğiniz kalacak. Nurlar içinde uyuyun hocam, mekanınız cennet olsun. Ailenizin ve tüm Fizik camiasının başı sağ olsun.
Ernest Ma
I met Durmus Demir in 1998 at Bogazici University where I was giving a seminar. He had traveled some distance to be there to meet me, and we talked a lot about our common interests in various physics topics. I invited him to visit Riverside in 2000 and we wrote 3 papers together, all regarding a new idea that in supersymmetry, a gluino axion is a natural possibility. We kept in touch but did not see each other again until 2020 in Egypt, which was a very pleasant surprise. He was the same as I remembered him, full of enthusiasm and asking penetrating questions as always. On the personal side, when my wife and I visited Turkey in 2003, he was elsewhere but he gave us phone numbers of people that we could call in case of any problem. We had a great time and things went smoothly. Even though Durmus and I only knew each other briefly, his warmth and friendship will stay with me always.
Sebastian Murk
I met Professor Durmuş Ali Demir at a conference last year. His passion and curiosity for physics were evident from the very moment he began to speak. In fact, I think this is what made me approach him in the first place. He was the kind of person who is always happy to discuss any and all aspects of physics. From the interactions I have had with his students and collaborators it is clear that he was not only a brilliant researcher but also an amazing teacher, mentor, and role model. His passing is a big loss that will be felt by the physics community, his family, his friends, and all of those whom he inspired. I take comfort in the fact that his legacy — both of in terms of his scientific vision, as well as his passion and curiosity — will live on through the work of his students.
Yasaman Farzan
I first met Durmus in 1999 when I was enrolled in the PhD program at SISSA which back then was located next to ICTP. Durmus was a post-doc fellow at ICTP. As a young Iranian PhD student with Turkish origin in Italy, it was very encouraging to meet energetic Durmus who was determined to go back to his homeland and make a difference. After graduation I came back to Iran when Durmus became a young faculty in Izmir. We started collaborating remotely. We worked on phenomenological supergravity which was fashionable back then. We wrote two papers together. Durmus visited us at IPM, Tehran in 2006. I have so many fond memories of this visit.
In 2012, my husband and I were invited by Durmus to visit his institute in Izmir. Impact that he was making on his group was impressive.
He will be remembered by all of us whose life and career has been touched by him. Peace be upon him. It is such a shock to lose such wonderful person. May God grant his family to endure this great tragedy. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.
Burç Mısırlıoğlu
Durmuş Ali Hocamın vefat haberini aldığımda inanamadım ve kendisini cep telefonundan aradım, bana o derece gerçek dışı geldi o haber. Hocamla rasgele bazı zamanlarda bilim sohbetlerimizi ve muhteşem bir enerji ile fizik anlattığı sohbetlerimizi unutamayacağım. Çok vakitsiz ayrıldı aramızdan, bütün sevenlerine ve ailesine başsağlığı dilerim, üzüntümüz çok derin.
Those who would like to contribute their memories, thoughts, and/or photographs in remembrance of the esteemed scientist, our respected professor, and dear friend, Prof. Dr. Durmuş Ali Demir, whom we sadly lost on February 24, 2024, can use the form provided below.
