Ali Kuşçu

Ali Kuşçu (?, 1403 - 16 December,1474) was a Turkish astronomer, mathematician, physicist and scientist. He is best known for his contributions to Uluğ Bey's famous work "Zij-i-Sultani", his efforts in founding Sahn-ı Seman University which is one of the first Ottoman universities, his separation of astronomy from natural philosophy, and his discussions on the Earth's motion.

Biography

Early life and works

He was born in 1403 on an unknown date in Samarkand which is today in Uzbekistan. His full name was Aleaddin Ali bin Muhammed el-Kuşçu. His family gained this last name after the official title of his father Muhammed who was the doğancıbaşı of Ulug Beg at that time.

He attended the courses of Bursali Kadizade Rumi, Giyaseddin Cemşid and Muinuddin Kaşi. He moved to Kerman, Iran and there he conducted some researches on the storms of Oman sea. He completed Hall-ü Eşkal-i Kamer (Explanations of the Periods of the Moon) and Şerh-i Tecrid in Kirman. He moved to Herat and taught Molla Cami about astronomy (1423). After professing in Herat for a while he went back to Samarkand and herald his works about moon to Uluğ Bey. Uluğ Bey was fascinated with the works and read the entire work while standing up. Uluğ Bey assigned him to Ulugh Beg Observatory which was called "Samarkand Observatory" at that time. He worked there till Uluğ Bey was assassinated. [Osmanlı imparatorluğunun doruğu 16. yüzyıl teknolojisi, Editor Prof. Dr. Kazım Çeçen, Istanbul 1999, Omaş ofset A.Ş.]

After Uluğ Bey's death, he went to Herat, Taşkent and finally Tabriz, Iran. While he was in Tabriz, Uzun Hasan the Khan of Ak Koyunlu sent him as a delegate to Fatih Sultan Mehmed (about 1470). At that time Sultan Baykara had come to reign in Herat but Kuşçu preferred İstanbul rather than Herat because of Fatih Sultan Mehmed's attitude toward scientists and intellectuals.

İstanbul era

When he came to İstanbul, his grandson Kutbuddîn Muhammed had a son Mirim Çelebi who would be a great mathematician and astronomer in the future. Kuşçu extended his studies in İstanbul. He wrote "Şerh el-risâlat el-vad'iyye" on Adududdîn İ'ci's famous study called "Fâi'de fî el-vad" which is the first work on linguistics. Kuşçu's work made a great impact on the scientific community. The work has thousands of copies in handwriting libraries all around the world.

He then finished "Şerh el-tecrid" on Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's "el-Tecrîd fî 'ilm el-kelâm". That work is called "Şerh-i cedid" in scientific community. It is considered as the most important philosophical work on metaphysics, physics, optics and mathematics done within Islamic civilisation.

Contributions to astronomy

In his "Concerning the Supposed Dependence of Astronomy upon Philosophy", Kuşçu rejected Aristotelian physics and completely separated natural philosophy from Islamic astronomy, allowing astronomy to become a purely empirical and mathematical science. This allowed him to explore alternatives to the Aristotelian notion of a stationery Earth, as he explored the idea of a moving Earth instead. He found empirical evidence for the Earth's rotation through his observation on comets and concluded, on the basis of empiricism rather than speculative philosophy, that the moving Earth theory is just as likely to be true as the stationary Earth theory.Harv|Ragep|2001a] [F. Jamil Ragep (2001), "Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic Influence on Science", "Osiris", 2nd Series, Vol. 16, Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions, p. 49-64, 66-71.] [Edith Dudley Sylla, "Creation and nature", in Arthur Stephen McGrade (2003), p. 178-179, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521000637.]

Kuşçu also improved on Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's planetary model and presented an alternative planetary model for Mercury. [George Saliba, "Arabic planetary theories after the eleventh century AD", in Rushdī Rāshid and Régis Morelon (1996), "Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science", p. 58-127 [123-124] , Routledge, ISBN 0415124107.]

His works

Astronomy [Osmanlı Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (Ed. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu), İstanbul 1997, I, 27-38]

* Şerh-i Zîc-i Uluğ Bey
* Risâle fî Halli Eşkâli Mu‘addili’l-Kamer li'l-Mesîr (Fâide fî Eşkâli ‘Utârid)
* Risâle fî Asli'l-HâricYumkin fî's-Sufliyyeyn
* Şerh ‘ale't-Tuhfeti'ş-Şâhiyye fî'l-Hey'e
* Risâle der ‘İlm-i Hey'e
* el-Fethiyye fî ‘İlmi'l-Hey'e
* Risâle fî Halli Eşkâli'l-Kamer
* "Concerning the Supposed Dependence of Astronomy upon Philosophy"

Mathematics [ Seyyid Ali Paşa, Mir’âtu’l-Âlem (Haz. Yavuz Unat), Kültür Bakanlığı, Ankara 2001.]

* Risâletu'l-Muhammediyye fî'l-Hisâb
* Risâle der İlm-i Hisâb: Süleymaniye

Kelâm and Usûl-i Fıkıh

* Eş-Şerhu'l-Cedîd ale't-Tecrîd
* Hâşiye ale't-Telvîh
* Unkud-üz-Zevahir fi Nazm-ül-Cevahir

Mechanics [Sevim Tekeli, 16’ıncı Asırda Osmanlılarda Saat ve Takiyyuddîn’in “Mekanik Saat Konstrüksüyonuna Dair En Parlak Yıldızlar” Adlı Eseri, Ankara 1966.]

* Tezkire fî Âlâti'r-Ruhâniyye

Linguistics [Musa Yıldız, Bir Dilci Olarak Ali Kuşçu ve Risâle fî’l-İsti‘âre’si, Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, Ankara 2002, s.10-14.]

* Şerhu'r-Risâleti'l-Vadiyye
* El-İfsâh
* El-Unkûdu'z-Zevâhir fî Nazmi'l-Cevâhir
* Şerhu'ş-Şâfiye
* Risâle fî Beyâni Vadi'l-Mufredât
* Fâ'ide li-Tahkîki Lâmi't-Ta'rîf
* Risâle mâ Ene Kultu
* Risâle fî'l-Hamd
* Risâle fî İlmi'l-Me'ânî
* Risâle fî Bahsi'l-Mufred
* Risâle fî'l-Fenni's-Sânî min İlmihal-Beyân
* Tefsîru'l-Bakara ve Âli İmrân
* Risâle fî'l-İstişâre
* Mahbub-ül-Hamail fi keşif-il-mesail
* Tecrid-ül-Kelam

Notes

References

*Harvard reference
last=Ragep
first=F. Jamil
year=2001a
title=Tusi and Copernicus: The Earth's Motion in Context
journal=Science in Context
volume=14
issue=1-2
pages=145–163
publisher=Cambridge University Press

External links

* [http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr/kimkimdir.php?id=226 Biyografisi]
* [http://www.akat.org/ Istanbul Ali Kuşçu Amatör Astronomi Topluluğu; AKAT]