Ibn al-Haytham

"Alhazen" redirects here. For other uses, see Alhazen (disambiguation).

Alhazen
Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham
ابن الهيثم
Bornc. 965 (0965) (c. 354 AH)[1]
Basra, Buyid Emirate
Diedc. 1040 (1041) (c. 430 AH)[1] (aged around 75)
Cairo, Fatimid Caliphate
Known forBook of Optics, Doubts Concerning Ptolemy, Alhazen's problem, analysis,[2] Catoptrics,[3] horopter, Spherical aberration, intromission theory of visual perception, moon illusion, experimental science, scientific methodology,[4] animal psychology[5]
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, mathematics, astronomy

Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen; /ælˈhæzən/; full name Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham أبو علي، الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم; c. 965 – c. 1040) was a medieval mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from present-day Iraq.[6][7][8][9] Referred to as "the father of modern optics",[10][11][12] he made significant contributions to the principles of optics and visual perception in particular. His most influential work is titled Kitāb al-Manāẓir (Arabic: كتاب المناظر, "Book of Optics"), written during 1011–1021, which survived in a Latin edition.[13] The works of Alhazen were frequently cited during the scientific revolution by Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler, Christiaan Huygens, and Galileo Galilei.

Ibn al-Haytham was the first to correctly explain the theory of vision,[14] and to argue that vision occurs in the brain, pointing to observations that it is subjective and affected by personal experience.[15] He also stated the principle of least time for refraction which would later become Fermat's principle.[16] He made major contributions to catoptrics and dioptrics by studying reflection, refraction and nature of images formed by light rays.[17][18] Ibn al-Haytham was an early proponent of the concept that a hypothesis must be supported by experiments based on confirmable procedures or mathematical reasoning—an early pioneer in the scientific method five centuries before Renaissance scientists,[19][20][21][22] he is sometimes described as the world's "first true scientist".[12] He was also a polymath, writing on philosophy, theology and medicine.[23]

Born in Basra, he spent most of his productive period in the Fatimid capital of Cairo and earned his living authoring various treatises and tutoring members of the nobilities.[24] Ibn al-Haytham is sometimes given the byname al-Baṣrī after his birthplace,[25] or al-Miṣrī ("the Egyptian").[26][27] Al-Haytham was dubbed the "Second Ptolemy" by Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi[28] and "The Physicist" by John Peckham.[29] Ibn al-Haytham paved the way for the modern science of physical optics.[30]

  1. ^ a b Lorch, Richard (1 February 2017). Ibn al-Haytham: Arab astronomer and mathematician. Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 August 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  2. ^ O'Connor & Robertson 1999.
  3. ^ El-Bizri 2010, p. 11: "Ibn al-Haytham's groundbreaking studies in optics, including his research in catoptrics and dioptrics (respectively the sciences investigating the principles and instruments pertaining to the reflection and refraction of light), were principally gathered in his monumental opus: Kitåb al-manåóir (The Optics; De Aspectibus or Perspectivae; composed between 1028 CE and 1038 CE)."
  4. ^ Rooney 2012, p. 39: "As a rigorous experimental physicist, he is sometimes credited with inventing the scientific method."
  5. ^ Baker 2012, p. 449: "As shown earlier, Ibn al-Haytham was among the first scholars to experiment with animal psychology.
  6. ^ Also Alhacen, Avennathan, Avenetan, etc.; the identity of "Alhazen" with Ibn al-Haytham al-Basri "was identified towards the end of the 19th century". (Vernet 1996, p. 788)
  7. ^ "Ibn al-Haytham". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  8. ^ Esposito, John L. (2000). The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 192.: "Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1039), known in the West as Alhazan, was a leading Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. His optical compendium, Kitab al-Manazir, is the greatest medieval work on optics."
  9. ^ For the description of his main fields, see e.g. Vernet 1996, p. 788 ("He is one of the principal Arab mathematicians and, without any doubt, the best physicist.") Sabra 2008, Kalin, Ayduz & Dagli 2009 ("Ibn al-Ḥaytam was an eminent eleventh-century Arab optician, geometer, arithmetician, algebraist, astronomer, and engineer."), Dallal 1999 ("Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1039), known in the West as Alhazan, was a leading Arab mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. His optical compendium, Kitab al-Manazir, is the greatest medieval work on optics.")
  10. ^ Masic, Izet (2008). "Ibn al-Haitham--father of optics and describer of vision theory". Medicinski Arhiv. 62 (3): 183–188. PMID 18822953.
  11. ^ "International Year of Light: Ibn al Haytham, pioneer of modern optics celebrated at UNESCO". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  12. ^ a b Al-Khalili, Jim (4 January 2009). "The 'first true scientist'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 26 April 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2018.
  13. ^ Selin 2008: "The three most recognizable Islamic contributors to meteorology were: the Alexandrian mathematician/ astronomer Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen 965–1039), the Arab-speaking Persian physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna 980–1037), and the Spanish Moorish physician/jurist Ibn Rushd (Averroes; 1126–1198)." He has been dubbed the "father of modern optics" by the UNESCO. "Impact of Science on Society". UNESCO. 26–27: 140. 1976. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2019.. "International Year of Light – Ibn Al-Haytham and the Legacy of Arabic Optics". www.light2015.org. Archived from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2017.. "International Year of Light: Ibn al Haytham, pioneer of modern optics celebrated at UNESCO". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2017.. Specifically, he was the first to explain that vision occurs when light bounces on an object and then enters an eye. Adamson, Peter (2016). Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-19-957749-1. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  14. ^ Adamson, Peter (2016). Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 978-0-19-957749-1. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  15. ^ Baker 2012, p. 445.
  16. ^ Rashed, Roshdi (1 April 2019). "Fermat et le principe du moindre temps". Comptes Rendus Mécanique. 347 (4): 357–364. Bibcode:2019CRMec.347..357R. doi:10.1016/j.crme.2019.03.010. ISSN 1631-0721. S2CID 145904123.
  17. ^ Selin 2008, p. 1817.
  18. ^ Boudrioua, Azzedine; Rashed, Roshdi; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan (15 August 2017). Light-Based Science: Technology and Sustainable Development, The Legacy of Ibn al-Haytham. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-351-65112-7. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  19. ^ Haq, Syed (2009). "Science in Islam". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. ISSN 1703-7603. Retrievedn 22 October 2014.
  20. ^ G. J. Toomer. Review on JSTOR, Toomer's 1964 review of Matthias Schramm (1963) Ibn Al-Haythams Weg Zur Physik Archived 26 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine Toomer p. 464: "Schramm sums up [Ibn Al-Haytham's] achievement in the development of scientific method."
  21. ^ "International Year of Light – Ibn Al-Haytham and the Legacy of Arabic Optics". Archived from the original on 1 October 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  22. ^ Gorini, Rosanna (October 2003). "Al-Haytham the man of experience. First steps in the science of vision" (PDF). Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine. 2 (4): 53–55. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 25 September 2008.
  23. ^ Roshdi Rashed, Ibn al-Haytham's Geometrical Methods and the Philosophy of Mathematics: A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics, Volume 5, Routledge (2017), p. 635
  24. ^ According to Al-Qifti. O'Connor & Robertson 1999.
  25. ^ O'Connor & Robertson 1999
  26. ^ O'Connor & Robertson 1999
  27. ^ Disputed: Corbin 1993, p. 149.
  28. ^ Noted by Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi (c. 1097–1169), and by
  29. ^ Lindberg 1967, p. 331:"Peckham continually bows to the authority of Alhazen, whom he cites as "the Author" or "the Physicist"."
  30. ^ A. Mark Smith (1996). Ptolemy's Theory of Visual Perception: An English Translation of the Optics. American Philosophical Society. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-87169-862-9. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2019.