Abu Ja'far al-Khazin

Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Husayn Khazin (Persian: ابوجعفر خازن خراسانی; 900–971), also called Al-Khazin, was an Iranian[1] Muslim astronomer and mathematician from Khorasan. He worked on both astronomy and number theory.

For the twelfth century physicist and astronomer, see Al-Khazini.

Al-Khazin was one of the scientists brought to the court in Ray, Iran by the ruler of the Buyid dynasty, Adhad ad-Dowleh, who ruled from 949 to 983 AD. In 959/960 Khazin was required by the Vizier of Ray, who was appointed by ad-Dowleh, to measure the obliquity of the ecliptic.

One of Al-Khazin's works Zij al-Safa'ih ("Tables of the disks of the astrolabe") was described by his successors[2] as the best work in the field and they make many references to it. The work describes some astronomical instruments, in particular an astrolabe fitted with plates inscribed with tables and a commentary on the use of these. A copy of this instrument was made, but it vanished in Germany at the time of World War II. A photograph of this copy was taken and examined by D.A. King in 1980.[3]

Al-Khazin also wrote a commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest in which he gives nineteen propositions relating to statements by Ptolemy. He proposed a different solar model from Ptolemy's.

References
  1. Selin, Helaine (2008). Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures. Berlin New York: Springer. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-4020-4960-6. A newly discovered manuscript (not yet available for research) contains a treatise by the tenth century Iranian astronomer Abū Ja˓far al-Khāzin describing an equatorium called Zīj al-Safāīh. (the Zīj of Plates).
  2. al-Qifti, Ta’rikh al-hukamā, edited by August Müller and Julius Lippet, Leipzig (1903) p. 396; Dold-Samplonius, Yvonne (2008) [1970–1980]. "Al-Khāzin, Abū Ja'far Muḥammad Ibn Al-Ḥasan Al-Khurāsānī". Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  3. King, D.A. (1980). "New light on the Zij al-Safa'ih of Abu Ja'far al-Khazin". Centaurus. 23 (2): 105–117. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0498.1979.tb00226.x.

Sources
  • O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn al-Hasan Al-Khwarizmi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews
  • Rashed, Roshdi (1996). Les Mathématiques Infinitésimales du IXe au XIe Siècle 1: Fondateurs et commentateurs: Banū Mūsā, Ibn Qurra, Ibn Sīnān, al-Khāzin, al-Qūhī, Ibn al-Samḥ, Ibn Hūd. London: Islamic Heritage Foundation. pp. 737–778, 779-833 (Texte et Traduction: Abū Ja‘far al-Khāzin, Transcrit du commentaire du premier livre de l’Almageste Min al-sharḥ li-al-maqāla al-ülā min al-Majisṭī). ISBN 1 873992 18 1. Reviews: Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1998) in Isis 89 (1) pp. 112-113; Charles Burnett (1998) in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 61 (2) p. 406.
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