- Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi
Abu Mahmood Khujandi or Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn al-Khidr Al-Khujandi (Persian: ابومحمود خجندی) was a Persian (Tajik) astronomer and mathematician who lived in the late 10th century and helped build an
observatory near the city of Ray (near today'sTehran ) inIran . He was born inKhujand (nowTajikistan ) about 940 and died in 1000.The few facts about Khujandi's life that are known come from both his surviving writings and comments made by Nassereddin Tusi. From Tusi's comments it is fairly certain that Khujandi was one of the rulers of the
Mongol tribe in the Khudzhand region, and thus must have come from thenobility .Astronomy
In
Islamic astronomy , Khujandi worked under the patronage of theBuwayhid Amirs at the observatory nearRay, Iran , where he is known to have constructed the first huge mural sextant in 994 AD. [MacTutor|id=Al-Khujandi|title=Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn al-Khidr Al-Khujandi]Al-Khujandi determined the
axial tilt to be 23°32'19" (23.53°), [Richard P. Aulie (1994), "Al-Ghazali Contra Aristotle: An Unforeseen Overture to Science In Eleventh-Century Baghdad", "PSCF" 45: 26-46 (cf. [http://www.1001inventions.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=441 References] , 1001 Inventions)] .Mathematics
In
Islamic mathematics , he stated a special case ofFermat's last theorem for n = 3, but his attempted proof of the theorem was incorrect. Thelaw of sines may have also been discovered by Khujandi, but it is uncertain whether he discovered it first, or whetherAbu Nasr Mansur or Abul Wafa discovered it first.Notes
References
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External links
* [http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam16.html History of Islamic Science]
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