Ali Abdullah Al-Daffa () (born 1943 (1362 H) in

Unaizah Unaizah ( ) or officially The Governorate of Unaizah (also spelled Onaizah, Onizah, or Unayzah; ) is a Saudi Arabian city in the Al Qassim Province. It lies south of the province capital Buraydah and north of Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom ...

, Al Gassim,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

) is a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

, author,

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

, and expert on the history of science and Islam. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from

Stephen F. Austin State University Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU or SFA) is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas, in the United States. Named after Stephen F. Austin, one of the founders of Texas, SFA was founded as a teachers college in 1923 and built on part ...

in 1967, his Master of Science degree from

East Texas State University East Texas A&M University (ETAMU; formerly Texas A&M University–Commerce) is a public university in Commerce, Texas, United States. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in ...

in 1968, and his PhD from Peabody College of

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in 1972. Upon receiving his PhD, Al-Daffa joined

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) is a nonprofit research university in Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Founded near the earliest local oil fields as the College of Petroleum & Minerals (1963) in response to the ...

Dhahran Dhahran (, ) is a city located in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. With a total population of 143,936 as of 2022, it is a major administrative center for the History of the oil industry in Saudi Arabia, Saudi ...

in 1972 as an assistant professor. Five years later, in 1977, he was promoted to associate professor. He also served as Chairman of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, at the same university, from 1974 to 1977, and then as Dean of the College of Sciences from 1977 to 1984. In 1980, he was promoted to Full Professor, the highest academic rank in Saudi Arabia. A visiting professor at

King Saud University King Saud University (KSU, ) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulalziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in Saudi Arabia. It was known as Riyadh U ...

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

(1979–1982), and at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, USA (1983), Al-Daffa was twice elected President of the Union of Arab Mathematicians and Physicists (1979–1981 and 1986–1988). Prof. Daffa is/was member of the following organizations: the Committee of the Islamic Civilization Encyclopedia, the Royal Academy of Islamic Civilization Research, Jordan; the Academy of the Arabic Language, Jordan (honorary); the Scientific Council of the Islamic Foundation for Science, Technology and Development (IFSTAD), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; the Board of King Faisal Center for Islamic Studies and Research, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia); and the Arab Scientific Society, Baghdad, Iraq. He is the author of 36 books on mathematics and the history of sciences (32 in Arabic, 4 in English) and more than 250 articles in international and Saudi magazines. One of his better known books in English is ''The Muslim Contribution to Mathematics'' (

Croom Helm Routledge ( ) is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, an ...

, 1977, reissued in 2015 by

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

Library Editions as part of its series, "Islamic Thought In The Middle Ages") He has been honored as one of the best researchers in the Islamic world. With respect to the history of science, one of his major concerns is to remind persons that in many areas of astronomy, architecture, mathematics and the natural and social sciences, scientific knowledge was preserved by Arab scholars translating from Greek to Arabic, from which such knowledge was ultimately disseminated to medieval Europe.

Haroon Siddiqui Haroon Siddiqui, is an Indo-Canadian newspaper journalist, columnist and editorial page editor emeritus of the ''Toronto Star''. He has reported from more than 50 countries and shaped media coverage of Canada for fifty years through ten prime ...

, "Saudis work to define themselves". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', February 8, 2001: A26. Al-Daffa’ is a Founding Fellow of th
"Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS)"
(1986).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daffa, Ali Abdulah Al- 1943 births 20th-century Saudi Arabian scientists Academic staff of King Saud University Stephen F. Austin State University alumni East Texas A&M University alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Harvard University staff Living people People from Unaizah Historians of science Academic staff of King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals 20th-century Saudi Arabian writers