Omar Khayam

Omar Khayyam عمر خیام
Bust by Abolhassan Sadighi (c. 1960) in Nishapur, Iran
Born	18 May 1048 Nishapur, Khorasan, Iran
Died	4 December 1131 (aged 83) Nishapur, Khorasan, Iran
Nationality	Persian
School	Mathematics, Persian poetry, Persian philosophy
Main interests	Mathematics, Astronomy/Astrology, Avicennism, Poetry
Influences Avicenna, al-Khwārizmī, Euclid, Apollonius of Perge
Influenced Tusi, Al-Khazini, Nizami Aruzi of Samarcand, John Wallis, Saccheri, Edward FitzGerald

Omar Khayyam (Persian pronunciation: [xæjˈjɑːm]; full name Ġiyāṯ al-Dīn Abu l-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Al-Naysābūrī al-Khayyāmī; 18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer-astrologer. As a scholar, he is most notable for his work on cubic equations and his calendar reform. Omar was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran. He moved to Samarkand at a young age and obtained his education there. Afterwards he moved to Bukhara and became established as one of the major mathematicians and astronomers of the Islamic Golden Age. His treatise on algebra (Maqāla fi l-jabr wa l-muqābala) includes a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle. For decades, he also taught the philosophy of Avicenna in Nishapur.

There is a tradition of attributing poetry to Omar Khayyam, written in the form of quatrains (rubāʿiyāt رباعیات). This poetry became widely known due to the English translation by Edward FitzGerald (Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1859), which enjoyed great success in the Orientalism of the fin de siècle.