Al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham
| Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
c. 965 (c. 354 AH) Basra, Iraq |
| Died |
c. 1040 (c. 430 AH) Cairo, Egypt |
| Residence | |
| Known for | Book of Optics, Doubts Concerning Ptolemy, Alhazen's problem, Analysis,Catoptrics,Horopter, Moon illusion, experimental science, scientific methodology,visual perception, empirical theory of perception, Animal psychology |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Influences | Aristotle, Euclid, Ptolemy, Galen, Banū Mūsā, Thābit ibn Qurra, Al-Kindi, Ibn Sahl, Abū Sahl al-Qūhī |
| Influenced | Omar Khayyam, Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf, Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī, Averroes, Al-Khazini, John Peckham, Witelo, Roger Bacon,Kepler |
Ibn al-Haytham (latinized Alhazen full name Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham أبو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم; c. 965 – c. 1040) was a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age. He made significant contributions to the principles of optics and visual perception in particular, his most influential work being his Kitāb al-Manāẓir (كتاب المناظر, "Book of Optics"), written during 1011–1021, survived in the Latin edition. He was also an early proponent of the concept that a hypothesis must be proved by experiments based on confirmable procedures or mathematical evidence, as such anticipating the scientific method.
Born in Basra, he spent most of his productive period in the Fatimid capital of Cairo and earned his living authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.
Ibn al-Haytham is also sometimes given the byname al-Baṣrī after his birthplace, or al-Miṣrī ("of Egypt"). In Latin tradition, he was occasionally nicknamedPtolemaeus secundus (the "Second Ptolemy") or simply as "The Physicist".Ibn al-Haytham paved the way for the modern science of physical optics.
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) was born c. 965 to an Arab family in Basra, Iraq, which was at the time under Shia rule (Buyid emirate). He held a position with the title vizier in his native Basra, and made a name for himself for his knowledge of applied mathematics. As he claimed to be able to regulate the flooding of the Nile, he was invited to by Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim in order to realise a hydraulic project at Aswan. However, Ibn al-Haytham was forced to concede the impracticability of his project. Upon his return to Cairo, he was given an administrative post. After he proved unable to fulfill this task as well, he contracted the ire of the caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, and is said to have been forced into hiding until the caliph's death in 1021, after which his confiscated possessions were returned to him. Legend has it that Alhazen feigned madness and was kept under house arrest during this period. During this time, he wrote his influential Book of Optics. Alhazen continued to live in Cairo, in the neighborhood of the famous University of al-Azhar, and lived from the proceeds of his literary production until his death in c. 1040.
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