GEOP-AI · The GEOmetry of Power – Ottoman Scientific Supradiscourse through AI-Enhanced Analysis of Mathematical and Astronomical Manuscripts (1450–1600)

GEOP AI: The Geometry of Power asks how scientific language became a tool of political authority. It focuses on Ottoman texts in mathematics and astronomy from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and traces how technical terms were recast as an imperial language of power. Recent work has shown that early modern states placed science at the heart of governance; however, the Ottoman case is rarely examined linguistically. Most accounts map people and books, while the mechanisms of authority, the life cycle of terms, and the gender dimension remain unclear. GEOP AI aims to close this gap. It reconceptualises the linguistic notion of supradiscourse for the history of science and then operationalises it to explain how technical vocabulary acquired political force. The project combines historical linguistics, the history of science, digital humanities, and AI. Using a corpus of fifteen manuscripts taught in madrasas, circulating at court, and preserved in European collections, it reconstructs how technical language formed and became institutionalised. Methodologically, it introduces Discursive Hermeneutic Computing, which integrates discourse analysis, ontology engineering, semantic web standards, and transformer-based NLP, and it develops the Epistemic Silence Index to measure women in STEM texts. The research plan comprises four linked objectives: modelling the terminology life cycle, redefining the supradiscourse framework, measuring gender through the ESI, and building a FAIR-aligned digital epistemology model. Expected outcomes include a reusable digital ontology, the first data-driven digital epistemology of Ottoman science, and an interactive Supradiscourse Explorer. Beyond the Ottoman field, DHC and ESI could be adapted to other languages and corpora. As a fellow, I will consolidate strengths in philology and linguistics, gain advanced skills in digital humanities and AI, and be prepared for independent research leadership in Europe.