Cahit Arf, who was appointed by Gursel as the founding director and whose leading foundation work was assisted by a group of scientists including Prof. Erdal İnönü,[4] was subsequently named as the first chairman of the Council on December 26, 1963.

The Council's first ten members were professors Erdal İnönü, Ratip Berker, Hikmet Binark, Mecit Çağatay, Reşat Garan, Feza Gürsey, Orhan Işık, Mustafa İnan, Atıf Şengün and İhsan Topaloğlu.

To carry out these tasks, four research grant committees were set up to fund projects in the areas of basic sciences, engineering, medicine, agriculture and animal husbandry.

A separate “Scientist Training Group”, also set up at the time to orient promising students towards scientific careers and help their advancement thereafter, has now evolved into the present Science Fellowships and Grant Programmes Division.

[5] TÜBİTAK is responsible for the development and coordination of scientific research in line with the national targets and priorities, set by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA).