Abdelhamid Ibrahim Sabra (1924-2013) was a professor of the history of science specializing in the

history of optics Optics began with the development of lenses by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, followed by theories on light and vision developed by ancient Greek philosophers, and the development of geometrical optics in the Greco-Roman world. The w ...

and

science in medieval Islam Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Umayyads of Córdoba, the Abbadids of Seville, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids in Persia, the Abbasid Caliphate and ...

. He died December 18, 2013. Sabra provided English translation and commentary for Books I-III *Sabra also produced an Arabic edition of books IV-V: The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham. IV-V: On Reflection and Images Seen by Reflection. Two volumes: I: Text, Introductions, Concordance Tables; II: Apparatus, Diagrams, Appendices, Analytical Index, Plates. 760pp. Kuwait: The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, 2002. of

Ibn al-Haytham Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (; full name ; ), was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.For the description of his main fields, see e.g. ("He is one of the pri ...

's seven book ''Kitab al-Manazir'' ('' Book of Optics''), written in Arabic in the 11th century. Sabra received his undergraduate degree at the

University of Alexandria Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...

. He then studied

philosophy of science Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ult ...

with Karl Popper at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, where he received a PhD in 1955 for a thesis on optics in the 17th century. He taught at the University of Alexandria 1955–62, at the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cro ...

1962–72, and at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

from 1972 until he retired in 1996. In his article on "The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in Medieval Islam", he argued, against the theories of

Pierre Duhem Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem (; 9 June 1861 – 14 September 1916) was a French theoretical physicist who worked on thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, and the theory of elasticity. Duhem was also a historian of science, noted for his work on the Eu ...

, that Islamic cultures did not passively receive and preserve ancient Greek science, but actively "appropriated" and modified it.''History of Science'' 25, pp. 223–43 In 2005 he was awarded the Sarton Medal for lifetime achievement in the history of science by the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the publi ...

Select publications

*1954. "A Note on a Suggested Modification of Newton's Corpuscular Theory of Light to Reconcile it with Foucault's Experiment of 1850." ''British Journal for the Philosophy of Science'' 5, pp. 149–51. *1967 ''Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton'', (Oldbourne), (reprint Cambridge University Press, 1981), 363 pages. *1984. "The Andalusian Revolt Against Ptolemaic Astronomy: Averroes and al-Bitrûjî." pp. 233–53 in Everett Mendelsohn, ed. ''Transformation and Tradition in the Sciences: Essays in honor of I. Bernard Cohen.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *1987. "The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in Medieval Islam." ''History of Science'' 25, pp. 223–43. *1996. "Situating Arabic Science: Locality ''versus'' Essence," ''Isis'', 87, pp. 654–670 (reprinted in Michael H. Shank, ed., ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 215–31).

References

External links

A. I. Sabra's biography at HarvardObituary
2013 deaths Historians of science Egyptian orientalists Harvard University faculty 1924 births Alumni of the University of London Arabic–English translators {{Egypt-historian-stub