The Ottoman Empire, which is a part of Islamic civilisation, established a unique tradition in scientific production and circulation of knowledge, primarily shaped by the intellectual heritage and scholarly accumulation of Islamic civilisation and its diverse traditions. In the early period of the empire, scientific endeavours were concentrated in madrasa, which continued the Seljuk heritage, and remarkable advances were made in fields such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics and geography. During the period of ascendancy, with the encouragement of rulers such as Fatih Sultan Mehmed and Kanuni Sultan Suleyman, Istanbul became a centre where the scientific and cultural accumulations of both the Islamic world and Europe intersected. In this process, Ottoman scholars not only translated existing classical works but also actively participated in the production of scientific knowledge by making original contributions. From the seventeenth century onwards, the rapid advances brought about by the scientific revolutions in Europe brought about a number of changes within the Ottoman scientific tradition. On the other hand, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed significant efforts towards modernisation and the transfer of knowledge from the West, which revived interest in science, especially in military and technical fields. In this context, towards the end of the nineteenth century, a break with the epistemology of the Islamic tradition is observed. The development of science in the Ottoman Empire is important for understanding the relationship between tradition and innovation, the contribution to global knowledge systems and the dependence of scientific knowledge production on sociopolitical conditions.