Islamic Empires

Arab and Persian Influence

Muslim contribution in the not-so Dark AgesGreek philosophy wasn't the only gift medieval Europe received from Muslim scholars. They also translated Greek scientific texts into Arabic, sharing knowledge that had been lost to the West since the fall of Rome. They passed along Hindu mathematical ideas, such as the concept of zero. And the discoveries of Ibn al-Haytham in optics, Ibn Sina in medicine, and Umar Khayyam in mathematics pointed the way for generations of Western thinkers.

Tusi, Nasir-u-din

Ibn Sina 

Islam's most renowned philosopher-scientist, Ibn Sina outgrew his teachers while a teenager and educated himself in law, medicine and metaphysics. His intellect served him well:

As a court physician in Persia, he survived intrigue and imprisionment to write two of history's greatest works, The Book of Healing, a compendium of science and philosophy, and The Canon of Medicine, an encylopedia based on the teachings on Greek physicians. The latter was widely used in the West, where Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna, was called the Prince of Physicians.

At the start of the millenium the Persian Philosopher Physician Ibn Sina dfiscovered that tuberculosis was contagious, but his teachings would not reach Europe for another hundred years.

Omar Khayyam

Born: May 1048 in Nishpur, Persia (now Iran)

Died: Dec 1122 in Nishapur, Persia (now Iran)

Khayyam was a poet as well as a mathematician. He discovered a  geometrical method  to solve cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle. Omar Khayyam's full name was Abu al-Fath Omar ben Ibrahim al-Khayyam. A literal translation of his name means 'tent maker' and this may have been his father's trade.

Khayyam is best known as a result of Edward Fitzgerald's popular translation in 1859 of nearly 600 short four line poems the Rubaiyat. Khayyam was an outstanding mathematician and astronomer. His work on algebra was known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and he also contributed to a calendar reform.

He measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days. Two comments on this result. Firstly it shows an incredible confidence to attempt to give the result to this degree of accuracy. We know now that the length of the years is changing in the sixth decimal place over a person's lifetime. Secondly it is outstandingly accurate. For comparison the length of the year at the end of the 19 century was 365.242196 days, while today it is 365.242190 days.

Khayyam refers in his algebra book to another work of his which is now lost. In the lost work Khayyam discusses Pascal's triangle but the Chinese may have discussed Pascal's triangle slightly before this date.

The algebra of Khayyam is geometrical solving linear and quadratic equations by methods appearing in Euclid's Elements.  Khayyam  discovered a geometrical method to solve cubic equations. He did this by intersecting a parabola with a circle but, at least in part, these methods had been described by earlier authors such as Abu al-Jud.

Khayyam also gave important results on ratios giving a new definition and extending Euclid's work to include the multiplication of ratios. He poses the question of whether a ratio can be regarded as a numbe but leaves the question unanswered.

Khayyam's fame as a poet has caused some to forget his scientific achievements, which were much more substantial. Versions of the forms and verses used in the Rubaiyat existed in Persian literature before Khayyam, and few of its verses that can be attributed to him with certainty.

IbnBuzjani

IbnHaitham

IbnNBiruni.