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Ibn al-Haytham

Physics

Ibn al-Haytham was a scholar working in Basra and Cairo whose Book of Optics, written around 1011 to 1021, overturned the ancient idea that vision works by rays sent out from the eye and argued instead that sight results from light entering the eye from external objects. He built his case through controlled experiment and mathematical reasoning rather than appeal to authority, a method historians credit as an early form of the modern experimental scientific method. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Year
965 2
Sourced to the subject's own accountConventional scholarly estimate, c. 965; no primary source records his exact birth date.
Death Year
1039 1
FieldSourced to the subject's own account
Optics and the experimental method 2
Death Place
Cairo, Egypt 1
Nationality
Abbasid Caliphate 1
Nationality
Fatimid Caliphate 1
Notable Work
Book of Optics 1
Notable Work
Doubts Concerning Ptolemy 1
Birthplace
Basra, Iraq 1
Field
Field (category)
Physics 1
Field (category)
Astronomy 1
Field (category)
Biology 1
Field (category)
Mathematics 1
Field (category)
Engineering 1
Connections

Founded

Optics, Disciplines
Source Ibn al-Haytham (Wikipedia)

Works In

Physics, Disciplines
In the Other Atlases

Same As

Also in Mathematics Atlas: the same subject.

Nationality

Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.

Sources
1. Ibn al-Haytham (Wikidata)
  • P570 (date of death): year
    +1039-00-00T00:00:00Z
  • P27 (country of citizenship): Abbasid Caliphate
    Q12536
  • P20 (place of death): Cairo, Egypt
    Q85
  • P27 (country of citizenship): Fatimid Caliphate
    Q160307
  • P19 (place of birth): Basra, Iraq
    Q48195
  • P800 (notable work): Book of Optics
    Q264562
  • P800 (notable work): Doubts Concerning Ptolemy
    Q42195565
View the Source
2. Ibn al-Haytham (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead section
Quote, Lead section
Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen (c. 965, c. 1040), was a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from Iraq.
View the Source
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