Publication: Sunday Times Issued: Date: 2007-05-20 Reporter: Jocelyn Maker Reporter: Megan Power

Geeky and Hard-Working: Professor No 2

 

Publication 

Sunday Times

Date

2007-05-20

Reporter

 Jocelyn Maker, Megan Power

Web Link

www.sundaytimes.co.za

 

Professor Sarp Adali has a great academic record.

Like his boss, Viktor Verijenko, he is an internationally recognised researcher, having published more than 125 journal papers and book chapters and presented more than 90 papers in conferences during his impressive career.

Associates describe him as a geek; a hard-working and softly spoken introvert fascinated by knowledge.

On Thursday, as the drama around Chippy Shaik’s dodgy thesis began to unfurl, Adali’s silver Toyota Corolla remained in his personal parking space at the University of KwaZulu-Natal long after clock-off time.

The Turkish-born academic, who turned 61 this week, has worked closely with Verijenko for the last few years. The two lived in the same luxury Umhlanga block of flats.

But that’s where the connection ended. By all accounts Adali and his wife have led simple lives bearing little resemblance to Verijenko’s more sophisticated lifestyle.

Educated in Turkey, he obtained a BSc in civil engineering from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara by the time he was 22. Five years later he obtained his PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from Cornell University in New York.

He then returned to Ankara but moved to South Africa in 1977 and worked as a senior research officer at the CSIR in Pretoria for seven years.

In 1984 he joined the then University of Natal as professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering ­ eight years before Verijenko arrived.

By 2000 he was head of school, a position he held until the end of 2004.

With acknowledgement to Jocelyn Maker, Megan Power and Sunday Times.