About / Hakkında

I. A BOGAZICI AFFILIATE
He took his first step into Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute while he was a third-year student in the Department of Geophysical Engineering at Istanbul University Faculty of Engineering in August 1994, as an intern student with his internship in the Department of Geophysics. He started his master's degree in the Department of Geophysics in 1998 and became a Research Assistant. Pektaş, who served as Intern Student, Master's Student, Research Assistant, and Master of Science (M.Sc.) Engineer at the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, served in the Department (Department of Geophysics and Department of Earthquake Engineering), Center (Regional Earthquake-Tsunami Monitoring Center) and Laboratory (Astronomy Laboratory) units of the institution, and he continues to serve in the institution. In addition to the academic and administrative duties he assumed, he also continued to manage the institution’s website and social media content accounts between 2015 and 2025.

II. EDUCATION AND TRAINING LIFE
Born in Ankara in 1972, Rıza Pektaş completed his high school education in the “Building Drafting” department of Istanbul Construction Technical and Building Vocational High School and then completed his associate degree in the “Construction” department of Yıldız Technical University Yıldız Vocational School. He graduated from the Department of Geophysical Engineering of Istanbul University Faculty of Engineering in 1996 with his undergraduate thesis on “Earthquake Prediction Studies”. He completed his master's degree in 2000 at Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Department of Geophysics with a thesis titled "Recent Earthquake Clusterings in the Eastern Part of Marmara Region and Related Problems". Within the scope of his master's thesis, he contributed to the studies on determining the seismicity of the region and reanalyzing the earthquake distributions accordingly by modeling the crustal structure of the Marmara region. Seismology, earthquake physics and earthquake prediction are his areas of interest and study as a geologist. During his time as a Research Assistant, he worked as a project worker for 4 years in the Turkish-Japanese joint project "Multidisciplinary Studies in the Prediction of Earthquakes".

III. ASTRONOMY AND SOLAR PHYSICS

a. Studies
Rıza Pektaş, who worked as a M.Sc. engineer/researcher at the Astronomy Laboratory of Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute for a total of 12 years between 2003-2011 and 2018-2022, conducted studies on solar activity and sunspots, sudden ionospheric disturbances (SID) due to solar activity, Space Weather and Earth-Sun interaction in this department and presented these studies in national and international academic environments.

Some of the studies he has carried out at the Astronomy Laboratory include :

1. Daily monitoring and recording of sunspots formed due to solar magnetic activity changes with the Carl-Zeiss telescope, evaluating the results and sharing these data with international centers on a daily and monthly basis,

2. Ensuring the permanence of the 76-year sunspot observation and evaluation reports that have been carried out regularly since 1946 from 'paper' to digital media and opening these data to scientific sharing on the internet,

3. Calculating Flare Index data and presenting these results to scientific sharing on an annual basis.
   
   

In addition to these; although following and analyzing the effects of explosions occurring on the Sun on the Ionosphere layer and working on the possible effects of these effects on the Earth's crust are among his professional goals, he unfortunately could not find the opportunity to put this into practice because he could not receive support on this subject from the department he works in.

He provided information and answered questions to thousands of students, teachers and visitors who came to Kandilli Observatory every week as part of school and group trips organized by appointment, about astronomy, the Sun and the studies conducted on this subject at the observatory.

b. Scientific Memberships
Rıza Pektaş is among the founding members of the National Space Weather Action Group (NSWAG). Pektaş, who is currently a member of the Turkish Astronomical Association, International Astronomical Union (IAU), European Astronomical Society (EAS) and has international commission duties, continues to serve as the Boğaziçi University institution representative of the Turkish Astronomical Association.

c. Photographic Prints on Glass Shedding Light on the History of Kandilli Observatory
In 2018, he found 130 historical glass-printed photographs, which were about a century old and belonged to the history of the Kandilli Observatory, in an idle state in a storage room in the basement of the Astronomy Laboratory building, and after his own initiative and effort and a multi-stage work, he converted them into digital format and made them available to researchers by adding them to the Kandilli Observatory archive. Some of these photographs, each of which is a historical document, were later used in the book "150 Years of Science with the Observatory", an important work written by Prof. Dr. Mustafa Aktar on the history of the Kandilli Observatory and which was awarded the 77th Yunus Nadi Award in 2022.

IV. EARTH SCIENCES - GEOPHYSICS - EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI STUDIES
Pektaş, who also works at Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute “National Earthquake Monitoring Center” (now called “Regional Earthquake-Tsunami Monitoring and Assessment Center”), has undertaken the following duties as required by the following:

1. Real-time monitoring of earthquakes occurring in our country and neighboring countries,

2. Analyzing earthquake data to accurately determine the magnitude, location and time parameters of earthquakes and sharing them with the public quickly,

3. Controlling existing earthquake data and improving the solution quality of these data in order to create a national earthquake catalogue belonging to Kandilli Observatory.

V. SCIENTIFIC TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Participation in scientific talks and presentations organized within the scope of various scientific events, especially upon requests from schools, as an invited speaker.

📝 To get in touch and learn more about my work : contact page 

SETI Project
He took part as a volunteer participant in the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) project, which was initiated by NASA in 1971, for 20 years between 1999 and 2019. This project, which is carried out by the University of California - Space Sciences Laboratory (Berkeley), is the joint network data-processing project with the highest participation rate to date, with 5.5 million participants from 226 countries around the world.

Interests and Hobbies
Pektaş, who attaches importance to scientific thought, conducts research on neuroscience, brain-mind & consciousness, the concept and perception of time, cosmology and creation, and tries to interpret all these subjects as a whole by evaluating them in a multi-faceted way within the axis of science, philosophy and sacred texts. Due to his interest in music, he plays various musical instruments such as oud, guitar, keyboard, and makes arrangements, mixing and mastering records of songs whose lyrics and music belong to him in his home music studio. He received a certificate after his education in "Music and Recording Technologies" in 2017-2018. Other subjects and activities he is interested in are detail & texture and minimalist photography (Instagram portfolio), tennis and Aikido. Due to his interest in technological products, he closely follows the developments in this field.