Abu al‐Qasim Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar al‐Ghafiqī ibn as-Saffar al‐Andalusi (born in
Cordoba, died in the year 1035 at
Denia), also known as Ibn as-Saffar (, literally: son of the
brass worker), was a Spanish-
Arab astronomer in
Al-Andalus. He worked at the school founded by his colleague
Al-Majriti
Abu al-Qasim Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti ( ar, أبو القاسم مسلمة بن أحمد المجريطي: c. 950–1007), known or Latin as , was an Arab Muslim astronomer, chemist, mathematician, economist and Scholar in Islamic Spain, ac ...
in
Córdoba. His best-known work was a treatise on the
astrolabe
An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستارهیاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...
, a text that was in active use until the 15th century and influenced the work of
Kepler. He also wrote a commentary on the
''Zij as-Sindhind'', and measured the coordinates of
Mecca.
Ibn as-Saffar later influenced the works of
Abu as-Salt.
Paul Kunitzsch argued that a Latin treatise on the astrolabe long attributed to
Mashallah
''Mashallah'' ( ar, مَا شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ, '), also written Masha'Allah, Maşallah (Turkey and Azerbaijan), Masya Allah (Malaysia and Indonesia), Maschallah (Germany), and Mašallah ( Bosnia), is an Arabic phrase that is used to expre ...
, and used by
Chaucer to write ''
A Treatise on the Astrolabe'', is in fact written by Ibn as-Saffar.
The
exoplanet
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
Saffar, also known as
Upsilon Andromedae b, is named in his honor.
Saffar Island in
Antarctica is named after Ibn as-Saffar.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibn Al-Saffar
1035 deaths
11th-century Arabs
11th-century Al-Andalus people
Astronomers of Al-Andalus
Scientists who worked on qibla determination
11th-century astronomers
Year of birth unknown