B�lent Atalay is a Turkish-American author, scientist, and artist. Born in Ankara, Turkey in 1940, Atalay is the author of the best selling book, Math and the Mona Lisa: the Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci, initially published in English by Smithsonian Books in 2004, and subsequently in eleven foreign languages. His new book, Leonardo?s Universe: the Renaissance World of Leonardo da Vinci, coauthored with Keith Wamsley, was released by National Geographic Books in late 2008, and immediately listed among Encyclop�dia Britannica Blog's "Ten Must-Have Reference Books from 2008." A theoretical nuclear physicist, he is the author of numerous technical articles in physics. He has been a professor of physics for four decades at the University of Mary Washington, an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia, and a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He lectures around the world on his expertise in the "A-subjects" ?art, archeology, astrophysics and atomic physics... while claiming little knowledge in the "B-subjects" ? business, banking, biology... 

January 1st, 1940 in (Age 84)