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 13 foreign languages.

[2] He lectures around the world on his expertise in the "A-subjects" – art, archeology, astrophysics, atomic physics and Atatürk ... while claiming little knowledge in the "B-subjects" – business, banking, biology ...

He is currently the President of the Atatürk Society of America,[3] dedicated to the ideals of the founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, most importantly, the secular governance.

An artist, his works have been exhibited in one-man shows in London and Washington D.C., and his books of lithographs – "Lands of Washington: Impressions Ink" and "Oxford and the English Countryside: Impressions of Ink" – were both published by Eton House in the 1970s, but are no longer in print.

Copies of his books of lithographs can be found in the permanent collections of the White House, the Smithsonian Institution and Buckingham Palace.