Abu Hamid Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Saghani al-Asturlabi (, referred to by at least one source as Ṣāghānī, was a
Persian astronomer and
historian of science. His name means "the
astrolabe
An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...
maker of Saghan, near
Merv
Merv (, ', ; ), also known as the Merve Oasis, was a major Iranian peoples, Iranian city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, near today's Mary, Turkmenistan. Human settlements on the site of Merv existed from the 3rd millennium& ...
". He flourished in
Baghdad
Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, where he died in 990.
Works
Al-Asturlabi wrote some of the earliest comments on the
history of science
The history of science covers the development of science from ancient history, ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural science, natural, social science, social, and formal science, formal. Pr ...
. These included the following comparison between the "ancients" (including the ancient
Babylonia
Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...
ns,
Egyptians
Egyptians (, ; , ; ) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian identity is closely tied to Geography of Egypt, geography. The population is concentrated in the Nile Valley, a small strip of cultivable land stretchi ...
,
Greeks
Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...
and
Indians) and the "modern scholars" (the
Muslim scientists of his time):
References
Sources
*
PDF version
*
Further reading
*
*
{{Authority control
Mathematicians from the Abbasid Caliphate
Astronomers from the Abbasid Caliphate
10th-century Iranian mathematicians
990 deaths
Historians of science
Year of birth unknown
10th-century Iranian astronomers
10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate