Alhazen

Alhazen (Arabic: أبو علي الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم, Latinized: Alhacen or Ibn al-Haytham) or Alhacen or ibn al-Haytham (965–1039) was a pioneer of modern optics. Some have also described him as a "pioneer of the modern scientific method" and "first scientist", but others think this overstates his contribution.Smith, Mark A. 1992. quote: "It is equally true that he has recourse to numerous experiments, some quite elaborate. But by modern standards these experiments are negligible in terms both of theoretical scope and of demonstrated effects. Not unexpectedly, in fact, Ibn al-Haytham's experimentalism has far more in common with that of Ptolemy than with that of Pavlov or Skinner. Thus, while Sabra's tendency to 'modernize' Ibn al-Haytham serves to highlight the purported uniqueness and significance (as well as rightness) of his contribution, it also serves to wrench him slightly out of proper historical focus". The British Journal for the History of Science, 25, 3, 358-9. Alhazen's Risala fi’l-makan (Treatise on Place) discussed theories on the motion of a body. He maintained that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. He laid foundations for telescopic astronomy.

He was an Arab  Muslim polymath who made contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to anatomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, ophthalmology, philosophy, physics, psychology, Muslim theology, visual perception. He is sometimes called al-Basri (Arabic: البصري), after his birthplace in the city of Basra in Iraq (Mesopotamia).

Alhazen lived mainly in Cairo, Egypt, dying there at age 74. Over-confident about practical application of his mathematical knowledge, he thought he could regulate the floods of the Nile. When he was ordered by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth ruler of the Fatimid caliphate, to carry out this operation, he realized he could not do it, and retired from engineering. Fearing for his life, he pretended to be mad, and was placed under house arrest. For the rest of his life he devoted himself entirely to his scientific work.

Related pages
 Islamic Golden Age
 Book of Optics
 Scientific method

 References 

 Other websites 


 Ibn al-Haitham on two Iraqi banknotes 
 The Miracle of Light – a UNESCO article on Ibn Haitham
 Roshdi Rashed, A Polymath in the 10th century, Science 297 (2002): 773
 A.I. Sabra, "Ibn al-Haytham: brief life of an Arab mathematician" 

Category:935 births
Category:1039 deaths
Category:Astronomers
Category:Mathematicians
Category:11th-century philosophers
Category:Physicians
Category:Egyptian engineers
Category:People from Cairo
Category:Optics