SNAPSHOTKey Achievements in Islamic Science and Scholarship

Person/DatesAchievement
al-Khwarazim (790–840)Mathematician; spread use of Arabic numerals in Islamic world; wrote first book on algebra
al-Razi (865–925)Discovered sulfuric acid; wrote a vast encyclopedia of medicine drawing on Greek, Syrian, Indian, and Persian work and his own clinical observation
al-Biruni (973–1048)Mathematician, astronomer, cartographer; calculated the radius of the earth with great accuracy; worked out numerous mathematical innovations; developed a technique for displaying a hemisphere on a plane
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) (980–1037)Prolific writer in almost all fields of science and philosophy; especially known for Canon of Medicine, a fourteen-volume work that set standards for medical practice in Islamic and Christian worlds for centuries
Omar Khayyam (1048–1131)Mathematician; critic of Euclid’s geometry; measured the solar year with great accuracy; Sufi poet; author of The Rubaiyat
Ibn Rushd (Averroës) (1126–1198)Translated and commented widely on Aristotle; rationalist philosopher; made major contributions in law, mathematics, and medicine
Nasir al-Din Tusi (1201–1274)Founder of the famous Maragha observatory in Persia (data from Maragha probably influenced Copernicus); mapped the motion of stars and planets
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)Greatest Arab historian; identified trends and structures in world history over long periods of time