IBN-HAYTHAM
Medieval anatomist, optometrist, mathematician and scholar
Guest author
Prof. Abdul Latif
Aligarh
India
Abu Ali al-Hasan bin
al-Hasan bin al-Haytham, commonly referred to by his Latinized names Alhazen,
Alhacen or Alhazeni, was a 10th century anatomist, optometrist, mathematician,
astronomer and scholar.
Al-Haytham was
born in Basra, Iraq in 965 CE. He studied in Basra, Baghdad and probably in Cairo,
a city where he ostensibly passed away in 1040.
While living in Cairo
under house arrest and feigning madness, he wrote a seminal treatise on optics called
the “Kitab Al Manazir” (Book of optics).
This milestone in
optics is significant as it demolished old concepts of Euclid and Ptolemy and
laid the foundation for succeeding works such as those by Roger Bacon (“who quotes or refers Ibn-Haytham at almost
every step in the parts of Opus Maius”) and also on Johannes Kepler’s study
of light.
Kitab al-Manazir
was written in 1015 and to celebrate its 1000th anniversary UNESCO
declared 2015 as the “Year of Light”.
The American-Belgian
chemist and historian, George Sarton has called him “the greatest Muslim physicist and one of the greatest students of optics
of all time. Whether it is in England or far away Persia, all drank from the
same fountain”.
Ibn-Haytham also
presented tables of angles of incidence and refraction, a concept similar to
the law of constancy of ratio of sines attributed to Snell.
These principles
are still relevant today every time gonioscopy is performed.
https://ourgsc.blogspot.com/search?q=gonio
https://ourgsc.blogspot.com/search?q=gonio
Ibn-Haytham also
described the appearance of the image of the moon on a wall of a darkened room.
This is the first description of the “camera obscura” or dark chamber- a
principle on which photography is founded.
Ibn-Haytham is
also credited with the terms relating to ocular structures such as “cornea”, “retina”
and “vitreous humor”, which are still in use.
In conclusion, the
priceless contribution and works of this medieval scientist deserve our
greatest appreciation. Ophthalmology and optics will forever be indebted to
Ibn-Haytham.
Really very interesting & superb information on Ibn-Haytham.UNESCO
ReplyDeletehad observed International year of Light in 2015 in the giant work of
Ibn-Haytham. He was a great Scientist & Physician of his time.
Prof.AbdulLatif
I second Professor Abdul Latif.Glog is undoubtedly information filled.
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