Alhazen
At a glance:
- Series: Dictionary of World Biography: Middle Ages
- Categories: Science, Medicine, Health
- Subcategories: Mathematics, Mathematicians, Scientists, Physics, Physicists, Astronomy, Astronomers, Cosmology
- Curriculum: African History, Middle Eastern History
Article abstract: Alhazen, Islam’s greatest scientist, devoted his life to physics, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. His treatise Optics, in which he deftly used experiments and advanced mathematics to understand the action of light, exerted a profound influence on many European natural philosophers.
Early Life
Abū ʿAlī al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham (commonly known as Alhazen, the Latinized form of his first name, al-Hasan) was born in Basra in 965. He was given a traditional Muslim education, but at an early age he became perplexed by the variety of...
[The entire page is 2767 words long]
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