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Razi or Rhazes, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al- Arab physician, author, philosopher - Iran 1312-3; 1999 Syria C414
One of the first who translated Euclid's Elements in Arabic
ibn-al-Haitham (965-1039) also known as Alhazen was a mathematician whose main contribution was the study of optic. One of his celebrated problem is the so-called 'Alhazen's problem': At which point on a spherical mirror is light from a given point source reflected into the eye of a given observer? In Opticae Thesaurus, introduced the idea that light rays emanate in straight lines in all directions from every point on a luminous surface. He also discussed spherical and parabolic mirrors and was aware of spherical aberration. In Epitome of Astronomy, he took a position against Ptolemy, insisting that the hypothetical spheres corresponded "to the true movements of really existing hard or yielding bodies [and] so...were accountable to the laws of physics" (Duhem 1908:28). This led to disagreements that persisted through the twelfth century.
Al-Biruni, mathematician, astronomer and philosopher is considered as one of the very greatest scientists of Islam.
About 1000, Ibn Sina, or Avicenna, hypothesized two causes of mountains: "Either they are the effects of upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the effect of water, which, cutting itself a new route, has denuded the valleys, the strata being of different kinds, some soft, some hard.... It would require a long period of time for all such changes to be accomplished, during which the mountains themselves might be somewhat diminished in size" (Toulmin and Goodfield 1965:64). In Kitah al-Shifa, he denied the Aristotelian notion that an object thrown through the air is pushed by that air and held that "every motion occurs through a power in the moving object by which it is impelled" (Avicenna, quoted in Pines 1975:141). He also published Al-Quanun, or Canon of Medicine, where he held that medicines were to be known either by experiment or by reasoning. When one of his patients claimed he was a cow and bellowed like one, Avicenna told him that a butcher was coming to slaughter him. The patient was bound hand and foot, then Avicenna said he was too thin and had to be fattened first. The patient was untied and began to eat enthusiastically, gained strength, gave up the delusion and was cured.
Arab-Spanish astronomer - Spain 2502
Khayyam's dates of birth and death are reported differently by various authorities. The dates for his birth range from 1021 to 1048 and for his death from 1122 to 1131. Son of a tent maker, Khayyam was a mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He was also skilled in medicine and music. His corpus of works, consisting of two works in physics, four in mathematics, five in philosophy, and one each in geography, astronomy, history, and music reflects his wide range of interest in the sciences and the arts. He knew Arabic and Persian. Of the works mentioned above eight are in Arabic and two in Perso-Tajik. In 1077, he completed "Risala fi Sharh Ma Ashkala Min Musadarat Kitab al-Uqlidas." This work includes resolutions for a number of difficult mathematical problems; resolutions which remained unresolved for the European mathematicians until the 16th and 17th centuries.
Avenzoar was born in Cordova, spend his life in Seville, and was considered the greatest Moslem clinician of the Western Caliphate ("Famous Wise Man of Seville"). He challenged the dogmatic teachings of Galen and Avicenna. His medical contributions included descriptions of the tiny itch-mite (probably scabies), making him the first parasitologist since Alexander of Tralles 600 years earlier; serous pericarditis, mediastinal abscess, pharyngeal paralysis, otitis media, and abdominal tumors. He utilized a silver feeding tube in cases of partial esophageal obstruction and delivery of nutrients per rectum (with some success) in complete esophageal obstruction. He, his father, and his friend and student Averroes were all persecuted by the fundamental Moslem rulers of Spain.
Averroes was born in Cordova and died in Morocco, where he had become governor after having served as the chief magistrate of Cordova. He was as a philosopher "Prince of Philosophy" and also a physician. He observed that smallpox did not attack the same person twice, suggesting immunity. His life work, however, was to interpret Aristotle, becoming a pantheist and free-thinker and, as a result, the great Moslem heretic of the 12th Century. Like his friend and teacher Avenzoar, he challenged Galen’s teachings and ultimately was persecuted by Moslem fundamentalists. Averroes most famous pupil was Maimonides, through whom he influenced subsequent Jewish philosophy
Kashani, mathematician and astronomer, was born about 1380 in Kashan, Iran and died 22 June 1429 in Samarkand, (now Uzbekistan). A major work is “ The Key to Arithmetic” published the 2 March 1427 that provides mathematics for those studying astronomy, architecture, accounting and trading. He calculated pi with an accuracy of 16 decimal places, accurate sine tables and worked on geometrical problems such as the angle trisection.
Tartar prince, ruler of Turkestan, mathematician, astronomer, author . The son of Shah Rukh and Gawhar Shad born at Sultaniyya in Central Asia on March 22, 1394. He made Samarkand the center of Muslim civilization. He enriched it with a monastery with the highest dome in the world which was finished in 1420 (823). In 1424 (828) he built a madrasa, or institution of higher learning, in which astronomy was the most important subject. A theologian, he specialized in the study of the Kur'an which he could repeat by heart according to all seven readings. As a historian he wrote Ulus-i arba'-i Cingizi (History of the Four Sons of the House of Cingizi), which since has been lost. A learned mathematician, he could solve the most difficult problems in geometry. But he was above all an astronomer. Four years after his madrasa came into existence, Ulugh Beg erected a three-story observatory. While the observatory was destroyed, its precise location was located in 1908 by the archaeologist, V. L. Vyatkin. The main instrument of the observatory was a Fakhri sextant which was used in determining the basic constants of astronomy: the inclination of the ecliptic to the equator, the point of the vernal equinox, the length of the tropical year, and other constants arising from observation of the sun. When he found that Ptolemy's computations did not agree with his own observations he compiled Zidj-i Djadid Sultani a collection comprising diverse computations and eras; the knowledge of time; the course of the stars; and the position of the fixed stars. It is unclear if this work was in Arabic, Persian or Turkish, but an English translation of one of the versions was published in 1917. After a brief reign as ruler of Turkestan from 1447 he was defeated and slain by a rebellious son in 1449.
1979 Nobel Physics prize for contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including, inter alia, the prediction of the weak neutral current
Turkish mathematician. He was born in Istanbul in 1864 the son of a poor man named Boyabatli Hasan Aga. After losing his father and his mother, who was named Saniye Hanim, his grandmother enrolled him in the Darussafaka (a famous high school for gifted orphans) when he was ten. He graduated from there in 1882. He then entered the service of the Post and Telegraph Science Bureau. After being sent to Paris in 1884, he gained first class honors there in electrical engineering and he returned to Istanbul in 1887. After serving as an electrical engineer in the Post and Telegraph Bureau, in 1895 he became the director of the Astronomical Observatory. After the Revolution of 1908, he became a fellow of the Science Council. In 1910 he became Director of the Galatasaray Lisesi in the place of Tevfik Fikret. In 1912 he became the Under-Secretary for Science, and in the following year the General Director of the Darulfunun. Then he taught physics and mathematics and wrote many textbooks for students. His most important works are General treatise on mathematics and Archeology (Asari bayike). He made numerous contributions to the journal Ikdam; the Journal of the Darussafaka; the journal Iktisadiyat; and the Darulfunun magazine. He was married three times; his second wife being the noted novelist, Halide Edip Adivar. In his later years he suffered from mental illness. He died in 1921 in the French hospital in Sisli, a section of Istanbul. He is interred in the garden of the Fatih mosque.
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