Fathullah Shirazi

Fathullah Shirazi

Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), sometimes referred to as Amir Fathullah Shirazi,cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-bE9AAAAMAAJ&printsec=titlepage&client=firefox-a#PPA281,M1|title=The Emperor Akbar|author=Friedrich Christian Charles August|coauthors=Gustav von Buchwald|publisher=Trübner & Co.|year=1890|accessdate=2008-04-04] was a Persian-Indian polymath—a scholar, Islamic jurist, finance minister, mechanical engineer, inventor, mathematician, astronomer, physician, philosopher and artist—who worked for Akbar the Great, ruler of the Mughal Empire. [citation|title=Science and technology in early modern Islam, c.1450-c.1850|first=William Gervase|last=Clarence-Smith|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/ScienceandTechnology-WGCS.pdf|publisher=Global Economic History Network, London School of Economics|page=25] Shirazi was given the title of 'Azuddudaulah, translated as "the arm of the empire." [August, p. 116]

Biography

Mir Fathullah Shirazi was a polymath who worked as an imperial finance minister for Akbar the Great. According to Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak's "Akbarnama", when Shirazi passed away, Akbar mourned his death:citation|title=The Mughal Empire|first=John F.|last=Richards|page=69|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1987|isbn=0521566037]

Inventions

Among the inventions credited to him was a military weapon, fashioned for killing infantry: the first known autocannon. As opposed to the polybolos and repeating crossbows used earlier in Ancient Greece and China, respectively, Shirazi's rapid-firing machine had multiple gun barrels that fired hand cannon.cite journal|first=A. K.|last=Bag|year=2005|title=Fathullah Shirazi: Cannon, Multi-barrel Gun and Yarghu|publisher=Indian Journal of History of Science|pages=p. 431–436]

Another cannon-related machine he created could clean sixteen gun barrels simultaneously, and was operated by a cow. He also developed a seventeen-barrelled cannon, fired with a matchlock. [citation|title=Science and technology in early modern Islam, c.1450-c.1850|first=William Gervase|last=Clarence-Smith|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/ScienceandTechnology-WGCS.pdf|publisher=Global Economic History Network, London School of Economics|page=7]

Not all of his creations were intended for warfare, however, including a carriage, which was called comfortable by Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak. It could also be used to grind corn, when not transporting passengers.

Notes


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