Abu Sa'id Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn Abd al-Jalil al-Sijzi (c. 945 - c. 1020, also known as al-Sinjari and al-Sijazi; fa, ابوسعید سجزی; Al-Sijzi is short for "
Al-Sijistani Al-Sijistani refers to people from the historic Sijistan region in present-day Sistan, the border region of eastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan.
Prominent people who have been called Al-Sijistani include:
* Abu Da'ud Sulayman ibn Ash`ath al ...
") was an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
Muslim astronomer,
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
, and
astrologer
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
. He is notable for his correspondence with
al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
and for proposing that the
Earth rotates around its axis in the 10th century.
He dedicated work to
'Adud al-Daula
Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw ( fa, پناه خسرو), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla ( ar, عضد الدولة, "Pillar of the bbasidDynasty") (September 24, 936 – March 26, 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling fro ...
, who was probably his patron, and to the prince of
Balkh. He also worked in
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
making astronomical observations from 969 to 970.
Mathematics
Al-Sijzi studied intersections of conic sections and circles. He replaced the old kinematical
trisection of an angle
Angle trisection is a classical problem of straightedge and compass construction of ancient Greek mathematics. It concerns construction of an angle equal to one third of a given arbitrary angle, using only two tools: an unmarked straightedge a ...
by a purely geometric solution (intersection of a circle and an equilateral hyperbola.)
Earth's rotation
Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...
tells us that Al-Sijzi invented an
astrolabe, called "al-zūraqī", whose design was based on the idea that the Earth rotates:
Al-Biruni also referred to Al-Sijzi as a prominent astronomer who defended the theory that the earth rotates in ''al-Qānūn al-Masʿūdī''.
["ʾaḥad al-mubrazīn fī ʿilm al-hayʾa"]
The fact that some people did believe that the earth is moving on its own axis is further confirmed by a reference from the 13th century which states:
"According to the geometers r engineers
R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...
(''muhandisīn''), the earth is in constant circular motion, and what appears to be the motion of the heavens is actually due to the motion of the earth and not the stars."
Notes
References
*
*
* Suter, Heinrich: Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke (80–81, 224, 1900).
External links
*
PDF version
*
Medieval Iranian astrologers
10th-century Iranian mathematicians
11th-century Iranian mathematicians
940s births
1020 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
10th-century Iranian astronomers
Scholars under the Buyid dynasty
10th-century inventors
11th-century Iranian astronomers
{{Asia-mathematician-stub