Meriç Tanık

Bio

Meriç Tanık earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Sorbonne and received her Ph.D. degree from the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in 2024. Her expertise lies in the history of science and technology in the late Ottoman Empire, with a focus on the cross-border circulation of knowledge and instruments and scientific exchanges between the Ottoman Empire and the wider world. Her doctoral research examined the transnational construction of the disciplines of agronomy, forestry, and veterinary medicine between 1840 and 1940. Dr. Tanık has previously worked at institutions including BULAC, Sciences Po, INALCO, and Collège de France. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Sakıp Sabancı Center for Turkish Studies.

Current Research

How does a novel technology become so embedded in daily life that it becomes an afterthought? Dr. Tanık addresses this question in her present research, which centers on new medical technologies in the late Ottoman Empire, specifically exploring the normalization of X-ray technology amidst mixed social responses. Unlike previous studies that focus on the moment of introduction of X-rays into the empire, she investigates their “afterlife”, focusing on the long-term mechanisms that enabled this novel technology to flourish in the Ottoman/Turkish context. Her study highlights the development of local expertise in interpreting roentgenograms and maintaining X-ray machinery, as well as the economic strategies that supported the technology’s adoption in alignment with imperial and national goals. Additionally, she explores efforts to foster public acceptance of X-rays, countering skepticism and fear, and examines the state’s evolving legal framework to ensure safe practices, particularly in response to physician deaths from X-ray exposure before safety regulations were established.