Abu
Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham (965 in Basra – c. 1040 in Cairo) was
a prominent scientist and polymath from the ‘Golden Age’ of Muslim
civilization. He is commonly referred to as Ibn al-Haytham, and sometimes as
al-Basri, after his birthplace in the city of Basra. He is also known by his
Latinized name of Alhazen or Alhacen.
Ibn
al-Haytham made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well
as to physics, astronomy, mathematics, ophthalmology, philosophy, visual perception,
and to the scientific method. He was also nicknamed Ptolemaeus Secundus
("Ptolemy the Second") or simply "The Physicist" in
medieval Europe. Ibn al-Haytham wrote insightful commentaries on works by
Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Greek mathematician Euclid.
Born
circa 965, in Basra, Iraq, he lived mainly in Cairo, Egypt, dying there at age
76. Over-confident about practical application of his mathematical knowledge,
he assumed that he could regulate the floods of the Nile.
After
being ordered by al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth ruler of the Fatimid
caliphate, to carry out this operation, he quickly perceived the impossibility
of what he was attempting to do, and retired from engineering. Fearing for his
life, he feigned madness and was placed under house arrest, during and after
which he devoted himself to his scientific work until his death.
A
crater on the moon is named in his honor, as is the asteroid 59239 Alhazen.
No comments:
Post a Comment