Erdal İnönü

Erdal İnönü, born on June 6, 1926 in Ankara, Turkey is a Turkish physicist and politician. He is the son of the second president of the Turkish Republic, İsmet İnönü. Leader of Social Democratic People's Party between 1983 and 1993, he served as Deputy Prime Minister between 1991 and 1993 and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for some six months in 1995.

He graduated from the Physics Department (University of Ankara Faculty of Sciences Template:Tr icon) of the Ankara University in 1947 and received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology in 1951. Upon his return to Turkey, İnönü served first as an assistant professor at the Ankara University. Between 1964-1974, he was professor of physics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. İnönü moved in 1974 to Bosphorus University in Istanbul and served here until he co-founded the Social Democratic People's Party in 1983.

Prof. İnönü was the first chair of the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Middle East Technical University (1960-1966). He initiated research on neutron transport during that time. During 1969-1971, he was the dean of the faculty of art and sciences. He is currently a member of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Sabancı University in Istanbul.

He is the 2004 recipient of the Wigner medal, administered by the Group Theory and Fundamental Physics Foundation, for his contributions to group contractions, see İnönü-Wigner contraction.

İnönü is also known for his work on the history of the development of science in the Ottoman Empire and Turkish Republic.

Currently he teaches History of Science in Sabanci University, Turkey.