Mathematician:Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham
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Mathematician
Persian philosopher, scientist and all-round genius who made significant contributions to number theory and geometry.
His work influenced the work of René Descartes and the calculus of Isaac Newton.
Nationality
Persian
History
- Born: 965, in Basra, Persia (now Iraq)
- Died: c. 1039, in Cairo, Egypt
Theorems and Definitions
Publications
- Analysis and Synthesis, in which he discussed perfect numbers
- Opuscula, in which he used the result now known as Wilson's Theorem
- Book of Optics
- Balance of Wisdom
- Corrections to the Almagest
- Discourse on Place
- Exact Determination of the Pole
- Exact Determination of the Meridian
- Finding the Direction of Qibla by Calculation
- Horizontal Sundials
- Hour Lines
- Doubts Concerning Ptolemy
- Maqala fi'l-Qarastun
- On Completion of the Conics
- On Seeing the Stars
- On Squaring the Circle
- On the Burning Sphere
- On the Configuration of the World
- On the Form of Eclipse
- On the Light of Stars
- On the Light of the Moon
- On the Milky Way
- On the Nature of Shadows
- On the Rainbow and Halo
- Resolution of Doubts Concerning the Almagest
- Resolution of Doubts Concerning the Winding Motion
- The Correction of the Operations in Astronomy
- The Different Heights of the Planets
- The Direction of Mecca
- The Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets
- The Model of the Universe
- The Motion of the Moon
- The Ratios of Hourly Arcs to their Heights
- The Winding Motion
- Treatise on Light
- Treatise on Place
- Treatise on the Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals
Approximately $50$ of the supposedly $200$ or so works of his survive. Not all have been studied and translated.
Also known as
Full name:
- Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham
In Arabic:
- ابو علي، حسن بن حسن بن الهيثم
In Persian:
- ابن هیثم
Best known as Alhacen or (deprecated) Alhazen.
Sources
- John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): al-Haytham, Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn (Westernized form Alhazen) (c. 985-1038)
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): al-Haytham, Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn (Westernized form Alhazen) (c. 985-1038)