Abū al-Fath Abd al-Rahman Mansūr al-Khāzini or simply al-Khāzini (, flourished 1115–1130) was an

Iranian Iranian () may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Iran ** Iranian diaspora, Iranians living outside Iran ** Iranian architecture, architecture of Iran and parts of the rest of West Asia ** Iranian cuisine, cooking traditions and practic ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

, mechanician and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

origin who lived during the

Seljuk Empire The Seljuk Empire, or the Great Seljuk Empire, was a High Middle Ages, high medieval, culturally Turco-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim empire, established and ruled by the Qiniq (tribe), Qïnïq branch of Oghuz Turks. ...

. His astronomical tables, written under the patronage of Sultan Sanjar (', 1115), are considered to be one of the major works in mathematical astronomy of the medieval period. Montelle, C. (2011). The ‘Well-Known Calendars’: Al-Khāzinī’s Description of Significant Chronological Systems for Medieval Mathematical Astronomy in Arabic. In Steele J. (Ed.), Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World (pp. 107-126). Oxford; Oakville: Oxbow Books. He is considered to have been one of the greatest scientists of his era, among the greatest makers of scientific instruments of any time, and as "the physicist of all physicists". Al-Khazini is one of the few Islamic astronomers to be known for doing original observations. He provided the positions of fixed stars, and for oblique ascensions and time-equations for the latitude of Marv in which he was based.Meyerhof, M. (1948). 'Alī al-Bayhaqī's Tatimmat Siwān al-Hikma: A Biographical Work on Learned Men of the Islam. Osiris, 8, 122-217. He also wrote extensively on various calendrical systems and on the various manipulations of the calendars. He also devised the world's most precise instrument for weighing ordinary objects, determining specific gravities, and even examining the composition of alloys. On the basis of his detailed description, it has been possible to reconstruct his complex mechanism, which he dubbed "The Comprehensive Balance". Modern study affirms his claim to its extraordinary accuracy of 1:60,000. Al-Khazini was the author of an encyclopedia on

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

and water-balances called ''The Book of the Balance of Wisdom'' ('), which explored theories of density, specific gravities of metals, precious stones, and liquids, as well as principles of equilibrium. The book is thought to have been "one of the most sophisticated and advanced balances to be designed and manufactured in the medieval Islamic world", and "the most comprehensive work on nowiki/>weighing">weighing.html" ;"title="nowiki/>weighing">nowiki/>weighingin the Middle Ages, from any cultural area".

Life

Al-Khazini was an emancipated Greeks, Greek slave in Marv, which was then one of the most important cities of Khorasan. He got his name from his master () who was the treasurer of Marv. The term ''khāzin'' was simply the title of the royal treasurer since the early Islamic period. His master made provisions so that al-Khazini could obtain a first-class education. Some believe that al-Khazini was a pupil of

Omar Khayyam Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) (Persian language, Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar ...

. While this is not known, he wrote about Khayyam, in particular, he gave a description of the water-balance invented by him (and improved upon by Al-Isfizari). And according to some sources, he collaborated with him on the reformation of the Persian calendar in 1079.Mehdi Aminrazavi, ''The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam'',

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(2007) Al-Khazini was known for being a humble man. He refused thousands of

Dinar The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

for his works, saying he did not need much to live on because it was only his cat and himself in his household. Al-Khazini was one of only about twenty astronomers of the Islamic era who performed original observations. His works reached Byzantium in the 14th century, in particular, they were studied by George Chrysococces and later by Theodore Meliteniotes.

Achievements

Al Khazini seems to have been a high government official under Sanjar ibn Malikshah and the sultan of the

. He did most of his work in Merv, where they are known for their libraries. His best-known works are "The Book of the Balance of Wisdom", "Treatise on Astronomical Wisdom", and "The Astronomical Tables for Sanjar". "The Book of the Balance of Wisdom" is an encyclopedia of medieval mechanics and hydrostatics composed of eight books with fifty chapters. It is a study of the hydrostatic balance and the ideas behind statics and hydrostatics, it also covers other unrelated topics. There are four different manuscripts of "The Book of the Balance of Wisdom" that have survived. The balance al-Khazini built for Sanjar's treasury was modeled after the balance al-Asfizari, who was a generation older than al-Khazini, built. Sanjar's treasurer out of fear destroyed al-Asfizari's balance; he was filled with grief when he heard the news. Al-Khazini called his balance "combined balance" to show honor towards Al-Asfizari. The meaning of the balance was a "balance of true judgment". The job of this balance was to help the treasury see what metals were precious and which gems were real or fake. In "The Book of the Balance of Wisdom" al-Khazini states many different examples from the Koran ways that his balance fits into religion. When al-Khazini explains the advantages of his balance he says that it "performs the functions of skilled craftsmen", its benefits are theoretical and practical precision. The "Treatise on Astronomical Wisdom" is a relatively short work. It has seven parts and each part is assigned to a different scientific instrument. The seven instruments include: a triquetrum, a dioptra, a "triangular instrument," a quadrant, devices involving reflection, an astrolabe, and simple tips for viewing things with the naked eye. The treatise describes each instrument and its uses. "The Astronomical Tables for Sanjar" is said to have been composed for Sultan Sanjar, the ruler of Merv and his balance was made for Sanjar's treasury. The tables in "The Astronomical Tables for Sanjar" are tables of holidays, fasts, etc. The tables are said to have the latitudes and longitudes of forty-three different stars, along with their magnitudes and (astrological) temperaments. It is said that al-Khazini's observations for this work were probably done in Merv in various observatories with high quality instruments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khazini 12th-century alchemists 12th-century Iranian astronomers Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world 12th-century Iranian mathematicians Medieval Islamic philosophers Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world Greek Muslims Medieval physicists Iranian alchemists Medieval Iranian physicists Iranian slaves Iranian people of Greek descent Scholars from the Seljuk Empire Iranian chemists 12th-century deaths 11th-century births 12th-century slaves

Life

Achievements

See also

References