Top 10 Arab and Muslim Scientists

Arabic scholars who progressed

science and technology while Europe was in a cultural decline during the Dark Ages (5th – 15th

century).

10 HASSAN IBN AL-HAITHAM, MATHEMATICIAN Basra, Iraq (965 – 1040)

Al-Haitham is considered one of the founders of modern optics. Ptolemy and Aristotle theorised that light either

shone from the eye to illuminate objects or that light emanated from objects themselves. But al-Haitham suggested that light travels to the eye in rays from

different points on an object. However, al-Haitham’s stellar career ended abruptly after he foolishly promised

the ruler of Cairo that he could stop the Nile from flooding by building a dam at Aswan. He couldn’t,

feigning insanity to avoid persecution. Ironically, his plans to build a dam were carried out hundreds of years later,

on the same site he initially proposed, when human engineering abilities had caught up with his vision.

09 OMAR KHAYYAAM, MATHEMATICIAN Neyshapur, Iran (1048 – 1131)

Khayyam calculated the length of a solar year to 10 decimal places and was only out by a fraction of a

second when compared to our modern day calculations. He used this to compose a calendar

considered more accurate than the Gregorian calendar that came along 500 years later.

His passion for science and interpersonal skills could classify him as one of the world’s first great

science communicators – he is said to have convinced a Sufi theologist that the world turns on

an axis.

08 AL-BATTANI, MATHEMATICIANHarran, Turkey (858 – 929)Although first conceptualised in Ancient

Greece, al-Battani further developed trigonometry as an independent branch of

mathematics, developing relationships such as tanø=sinø/cosø. His driving force was to obtain

the ability to locate Mecca from any given geographical point – aiding in Muslim rituals

such as burial and prayer, which require participants to face the holy city.

07 AL-ZAHRAWI, SURGEON El-Zahra, near Cordoba, Spain (936 – 1013)Al-Zahrawi is considered one of the fathers of

modern surgery. It was his idea to use animal intestines for internal suturing, a material that

produces no immune response and dissolves naturally, removing the need for further

surgery, and this is still used in some counties today.

He is also known for the invention of many surgical instruments, including forceps to assist

in vaginal births.

06 AL-RAZI, MEDICAL RESEARCHER Rey, near Tehran, Iran (865 – 920)

Al-Razi indentified the fever as part of the body’s defence, and was the first to describe the symptoms

and pathology of smallpox and measles. He also challenged the accepted medical theory on

‘bleeding’ – a widely practiced healing technique. Demonstrating a well-planned experimental

methodology, patients with meningitis were divided randomly into a treatment group where ‘bleeding’ was applied and a control group where it was not.

Despite his efforts, the ‘bled’ group displayed a greater recovery.

05 NASIR AL-DIN AL-TUSI, ASTRONOMER AND MATHEMATICIAN Baghdad, Iraq (1201 – 1274)

Al-Din al-Tusi authoured the Treasury of Astronomy, a frighteningly accurate table of planetary movements that

reformed the existing planetary model of Roman astronomer Ptolemy by describing a uniform circular

motion of all planets in their orbits. This work led to the later discovery, by one of his students, that planets

actually have an elliptical orbit. Copernicus later drew heavily on the work of al-Din al-

Tusi and his students, but without acknowledgment, says Masood. The gradual chipping away of the Ptolemaic

system paved the way for the revolutionary idea that the Earth actually orbited theSun.

04 IBN-SINA, MEDICAL RESEARCHER Bukhara, Uzbekistan (980 – 1037)

Ibn-Sina made important contributions to the disciplines of physics, optics, philosophy and

medicine. He wrote The Canon of Medicine, a text used to teach student doctors in Europe until the 1600s. He identified that the nerve cells are responsible for transmitting pain

signals and his detailed observations of disease vectors, including soil, air, touch and sex,

influenced the future direction of the medical profession.

03 . IBN AL-NAFIS, SURGEON Damascus, Syria (1213 – 1288)

Often called the ‘father of circulatory physiology’, ibn al-Nafis identified pulmonary transit – that is, that blood enters the heart at the right atrium, exits via the right ventricle, arrives at the lungs where it is re-oxygenated,

then passes back through the heart’s left atrium and is redirected back to the body. Prior to this, it was thought that blood simply seeped through holes between the heart’s chambers and did not

pass through the lungs.

02 JABIR IBN-HAYYAN, ALCHEMIST Tous, Iran (721 – 815)

Jabir was an alchemist (from ‘al-kimya’) who, in his quest to make gold from other metals, discovered strong acids such as sulphuric, hydrochloric and nitric acids. He

was the first person to identify the only substance that can dissolve gold – aqua regis (royal water) – a volatile

mix of hydrochloric and nitric acid. To control the monster he had created, Jabir produced

Alkalis (‘al-Qaly’) that neutralised their acidic counterparts. It is disputed whether Jabir was the first to use or describe distillation, but he was definitely the first to perform it in the lab using an alembic (from ‘al-inbiq’)

the old-fashioned and iconic flasks.

01

AL-KHWARIZMI, MATHEMATICIAN Persia (780 – 850) THE FATHER OF ALGEBRA

Can you imagine trying to multiply or divide two numbers on paper if they were written in Roman numerals? It’s thanks to al-Khwarizmi

you don’t have to. He produced a comprehensive guide to the numbering system, developed from the Brahmi system in India, using

only 10 digits (0-9, the so-called ‘Arabic numerals’ – see numerals, right).

Al-Khwarizmi also used the word algebra (‘al-jabr’) to describe the mathematical operations he introduced, such as balancing equations, which helped in several day-to-day problems. “The intriguing thing is

that algebra developed out of a need to solve a religious problem – Islam’s complicated system of divying up inheritance,” says Masood.