centuries ago, world was filled with these extraordinary scientists, who had alot of achievements and made huge contribution in the world of science.
Recent ones, we had Abdus Salam and Abdul Qadeer Khan, but I just specifically wanted to mention and talk about the centuries old ones.
**Ibn-e-Sina
****COUNTRY: **Iran
INTEREST: Medicine, Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, Psychology, Theology, Logic, Mathematics and Poetry
WORKS: Ibn-e-Sina, known in the west as Avicenna, memorised the Qur’an and a great deal of Arabic poetry by the age of ten. At the age of thirteen, he began to study medicine and mastered the subject in just three years after which he began treating patients.
His most famous work is the 14-volume Al-Qanun fit Tibb that served as a chief guide for medical science in the West from the 12th to the 17th century. The book is known for the discovery of contagious and sexually transmitted diseases, the introduction of quarantine to limit the spread of infectious diseases and the introduction of experimental medicine.
His most important mathematical work is the 20-volume Kitab al-Shifa (The Book of Healing) in which he included astronomy and music as branches of mathematics.
**LEGACY: **Ibn-e-Sina is considered the most famous Muslim scientist. He is remembered in the West as a major figure who made important contributions to medicine and eventually the European Renaissance.
In his honour, a lunar crater on the far side of the moon has been named after him. In March 2008 it was announced that all new directories of education institutions for health care professionals worldwide would now be called Avicenna Directories.
Al Khwarizmi
COUNTRY: Iraq (Baghdad)
**INTEREST: **Mathematics, Astronomy and Geography
WORKS: Al Khwarizmi and his colleagues were scholars at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad where their tasks involved the translation of Greek scientific manuscripts and studying mathematics, geometry and astronomy. He wrote that given an equation, collecting the unknowns on one side of the equation is called al-Jabr and collecting the knowns on the other side of the equation is called al- Mukabalah. It is the title of this book that became the foundation of the modern word ‘Algebra’.
Al Khwarizmi also helped introduce Arabic numerals, the decimal position system, and the concept of zero. He was principally responsible for spreading the Indian system of numeration throughout the Middle East and Europe.
His masterpiece, **Zij Al Hind Sind **(astronomical tables of Sind and Hind) marked the turning point in the field of Islamic astronomical research. It contains tables for the movements of the sun, the moon and the five planets known at the time. Al Khwarizmi also composed a major work on geography listing latitudes and longitudes, cities, mountains, seas, islands, geographical regions, and rivers.
His minor works cover topics such as the astrolabe, the sundial and the Jewish calendar.
LEGACY: Al Khwarizmi is considered the Father of modern Algebra. It was he who developed the sine, cosine and trigonometric tables, which were later translated in the West.
His work in the field of geography became the basis for the development of a world map.**
Al Battani
**COUNTRY: **Born in Harran in Upper Mesopotamia (Turkey)
INTEREST:** Astronomy and Mathematics**
WORKS: Al Battani, like his father Al Hattani, was skilled in making astronomical instruments.His major work is the 57-chapter Kitab-al-Zij, in which he determines the length of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds. The book also describes the division of the celestial sphere into the signs of the zodiac and into degrees. Moreover, it discusses the construction of a sundial and a number of astronomical instruments. Al Battani also catalogued 489 stars.In mathematics, Al Battani produced a number of trigonometric relationships.
LEGACY: **His work in observing the stars and scrutinising their motions led to a number of discoveries in the field. The renaissance Astronomer Copernicus mentioned his indebtedness to Al Battani and quoted him in the book that initiated the Copernican Revolution. He is also quoted by Tycho Brahe, Riccioli, Kepler and Galileo, among others.
The crater Albategnius on the Moon is named after him.
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