Jabir-bin-Hayyan-Geber

Jabir-bin-Hayyan-GeberJabir ibn Hayyan is one of the most brilliant scientists in the Golden Era of Muslims. He is famous for inventing various instruments for chemistry experiments, and he also performed many chemistry experiments himself. He found many new chemicals which include hydrochloric acid. Due to a lot of work in the field of chemistry, he is considered to be the founder of chemistry in the modern world.

Jabir ibn Hayyan, also known as Geber, belongs to present-day Iran and was born in the year 721 CE. During his childhood, his family had to migrate to the land of Arabia where he got his early education from famous scholars of his time and gained knowledge of Greek, Persian, and Indian literature. His father was one of the supporters of the Abbasside caliphate and died for the same reason.

When Abbasside’s caliph, Harun al-Rashid, came into power, he was able to make connections with his ministers. Soon he became a physician and practiced medicine with the support of the caliph. He was a famous physician and cured many powerful personalities. He also worked on many chemicals and experimented on them. Jabir had to travel a lot to acquire existing knowledge of chemistry. He was well funded by the caliph for his travel expenditures. He presented his work to the caliph Harun al-Rashid in the Book of Blossom.

Jabir ibn Hayyan was the founder of alchemy which served as the foundation for modern chemistry. When supporters of Jabir (Geber) were put to death by the Caliph for some unknown reasons, he fled to Kufa (modern-day Iraq). In Kufa, Jabir (Geber) had set up a laboratory where he continued working on chemistry. Jabir couldn’t hide from the caliph, he was soon caught and house-arrested. He lived the rest of his life in house arrest until he died in 815 CE.

Alchemy

Alchemy is the term used for medieval-era time chemistry that was founded by Jabir ibn Hayyan. He developed expertise in experimental approaches for working on materials and chemical reactions between them. Jabir had well documented the alchemical process, such as distillation, sublimation, crystallization, and amalgamation of metals. He also introduced the system of classification of materials into spirits, metals, and slats.

Jabir also conducted various experiments on the transmutation of metals, such as iron, into gold by some chemical process. He was not successful but documented his research and process in which he failed. Alchemy was used till the 17th century for making gold out of other metals. One of the famous scientists, Sir Isaac Newton, was also interested in alchemy and conducted several experiments for the transmutation of metals.

Discoveries and Contributions

Jabir Ibn Hayyan (Geber) contributed significantly in the field of chemistry. Some of the important discoveries and contributions he made are:

  • Discovery of Acids:
    He was the first to produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Sulfuric acid is a very famous acid that most people know about. This is because sulfuric acid is used in the batteries of vehicles.
  • Properties of Substances:
    He introduced many properties of a substance, such as warmth, coldness, moisture, and dryness.
  • Purification Method of Gold:
    He separated the elemental gold from impurities with the help of lead element and saltpeter.
  • Purification Method of Mercury:
    He found a method of purifying elemental mercury.
  • Alkali (base):
    Some substances can make the water softer; Jabir called these substances alkali.
  • Discovery of Aqua Regia:
    A mixture of acids called aqua regia, was also manufactured by him. Aqua regia can dissolve elemental gold which is inert to most acids.
  • Chemistry Equipment:
    Jabir developed more than 20 kinds of chemistry lab equipment; most of them are also used today in laboratories. Some of the lab equipment that he made are retort and Alembic.
  • Purification by Crystallization:
    He developed a method of purifying substances by the process of crystallization.

Facts

  • Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) wrote more than 3,000 research articles and treatises in his life, and more than 70 books were translated into other languages.
  • He suggested a theory which states that metals are composed of sulfur and mercury. By varying the amount of these two substances, you get a new metal.
Al-Jazari

Al-JazariIsmail al-Jazari is best known as the first Arab mechanical engineer. He earned popularity for inventing machines. He was not only an engineer by his occupation but also an inventor, scientist, skilled worker of handmade designs, and mathematician. He worked on the concepts behind the moving parts of machines of earlier Greek and Muslim scholars. Al-Jazari gathered his lifetime work and wrote it in a book.

Biography – Life Span

Ismail al-Jazari was born in Cizre, Anatolia region of Turkey in 1,136 CE. He is nicknamed as ‘al-Jazari’ his full name is very long that is “Badi Az-Zaman Abul Ismail Ibn Ar-Razaz al-Jazari”. Like many other Muslim scholars, he was also born in the Golden Age of Islam. He has been interested in machines since his young age. His imagination made him an expert in making machines. His father worked at Artuklu Palace in Turkey. Al-Jazari followed his father and became the chief engineer after him at the same palace under the rule of General Saladin Ayubi.

Although the Greek scientist Archimedes laid the basis of mechanical engineering by inventing basic machines, al-Jazari expanded his work. He invented around a hundred mechanical instruments. Most of them were designed in such a way that they worked automatically – which means to run without human support.

After the hard work of his entire life, he wrote a book in the last year of his life. The book serves as the best guide to understanding how machines are built and run. Besides, he invented many new machines that were used in controlling the flow of water, time clocks, and musical instruments. Apart from Archimedes’ work, he also studied the Banu Musa brothers’ contribution to making water fountains. Ismail al-Jazari died in 1,206 CE in Turkey.

Discoveries and Contributions

al-jazari-device-used-for-water-pumping
Al-Jazari’s water device

Ismail al-Jazari was highly dedicated to machines and mechanical devices. He contributed significantly to the field of mechanical engineering. He invented many new parts of machines and mechanisms. Among many of his discoveries are some mechanical parts like a shaft – a straight rod to move the object around, and a pump – to raise the water to heights. These parts were used by him in his following discoveries:

  • Elephant Clock & Water-Clock:
    Al-Jazari’s most famous invention is the Elephant Clock in which a large complex mechanical elephant figurine was made in a clock shape. It was invented to record the passage of time like modern time clocks. Before this, he also invented a water clock and a candle clock.
  • Surgical Instruments:
    Al-Jazari also practiced medicine and developed several surgical instruments to perform complex surgical processes with precision.
  • Water-Raising Machine:
    One of his other well-known inventions was the water-raising machine, known as the “Saqiya chain pump”. This machine was used in ponds, rivers, or flowing canals to raise the water. The machine contained bowls to fill the water and release it on the ground to flow.
  • Music Playing Robot:
    He also invented the musical robotic band in which a group of dummy people played music. The design of this music-playing robot is mentioned in his book “Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices”. The robotic band worked when water fell in one tank at a time. The dummy below that tank was pushed by water and played music. He even designed a mechanical robot that could serve drinks.

Facts

  • Ismail al-Jazari is known as the ‘Father of Robotics’ today. Because he was the first to design machines that ran in repeating rounds by themselves.
  • He wrote a book in 1,206 CE known as ‘The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices’. This book gives basic knowledge of how to build machines and their parts. Around a hundred mechanical devices are introduced in this book and the ways to build and run them.
  • After a few centuries, Leonardo Da Vinci, an Italian scientist, was inspired by Ismail al-Jazari’s work and used it in his inventions.
Al-Razi

Al-RaziAl-Razi is best known for his role in medicine during the Golden Age of Islam. He worked mainly on diseases in children and elders, chemicals used in making medicine, and problems related to the eye. He also built a hospital in Rey, Tehran for curing patients of his native land. In short, he was a complete doctor. Al-Razi is also known as Rhazes in the Western world. He was given the title ‘father of pediatrics’.

Biography – Life Span

Al-Razi was born in Rey, Tehran – the capital of Iran in 865 CE. He has quite a long name, ‘Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakarya Al-Razi’. He received his early education in Gundeshapur, an intellectual center of Education, which was located in Iran during the Sassanid Empire era. After completion of his essential education, al-razi moved to Baghdad to study medicine. He studied medicine at hospitals and translated the Greek books written on it. This enabled him to write books over two hundred. After practicing for a long time in Baghdad’s hospital, he returned to Rey – his native place. He was appointed as the chief physician and the head of Rey hospitals by the ruling caliph (king) Mansur ibn Ishaq.

Al-Razi taught medicine to students from different parts of the world. Therefore, he was called by them as ‘Shaikh’ – which means a noble person.  He was very kind to his patients and treated them free of cost. Besides, he was also a good player of chess. Hence, he wrote a book on it and named it ‘A Delightful Book about Chess’. Moreover, Al-Razi has classified substances into vegetables, animals, and minerals. Apart from that, he also wrote a monograph on the diseases of children.

In metaphysics, the field of study of religion and material things, he believed that it stood on five rules God, soul, matter, time, and space. However, his religious views were rejected by al-Biruni, who was the Muslim philosopher of his time and wrote a book on his life. He also researched human eyes to find out internal workings and diseases.

Al-Razi suffered from blindness in the last years of his life. The blindness was caused by the damage in his optical nerve to the brain which sends signals from eye to brain. Al-Razi spent his last days in blindness and died in 925 CE in Rey, Iran.

Discoveries and Contributions

Al-Razi’s long services in medicine and optics led him to lay the groundwork for Muslim Scholars to expand these subjects. Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Al-Biruni followed him and revised most of his works. Among many of his discoveries like chemical instruments to separate one chemical from others, creams for skin use, bottles, and flasks to use in laboratories.

Al-Razi’s sincere work was rewarded in the form of fame among Muslim and Western scholars alike. He is known for the following discoveries and contributions:

  • Medical Treatise:
    Al-Razi extensively documented his research work on medicine and wrote many treatises. One of the most important treatises is “Kitab al-Hawi” (The Comprehensive Book) which covers medicine, pharmacology, and healthcare procedures in detail. This treatise was considered an encyclopedia of medical discipline.
  • Recording Clinical Observations:
    Al-Razi started the practice of recording patient’s medical history and clinical observations. This method improved the patient’s diagnosis and laid the foundation for evidence-based medicine.
  • Distillation Method:
    The distillation method discovered by Jabir Ibn Hayyan was basic. Al-Razi refined and improved the distillation method in which many kinds of liquids could be distilled.
  • Invention of Anesthesia:
    Al-Razi was the first to process the opium and give it as anesthesia to patients on which the surgery was performed.
  • Alchemy:
    He wrote a book on alchemy, named ‘Al-Asrar (which means the Secret)’, which described the identification of chemicals obtained from minerals, animals, and plants for use in medical purposes. Also, he described various equipment used in chemistry and how to use them.
  • Viral Diseases:
    He wrote books on viral diseases like smallpox – a disease that comes with fever and causes rashes on the face. The other disease is Measles – a disease in which eyes remain hot and spots appear on the body.
  • Human Eye:
    He was also the first to know that the pupil is the part of an eye that first reacts to light.

Interesting Facts

  • He was given the titles of the father of pediatrics, the doctor of doctors, and the founder of the study of eyes.
  • The ruling caliph made him the chief physician and head of Rey hospitals.
  • His book Al-Mansuri which was written on surgery became part of the curriculum of Western universities.
Ibn-al-Haytham (alhazen)

Ibn-al-Haytham (alhazen)Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) is one of the most famous physicists who discovered many laws and theories in physics; especially in optics. His one of the most notable works proves that the human eyes see because of light falling on the eyes. The previous concept was that eyes emit certain radiations which when hit an object, the eye can see it. Due to many contributions to optics, he is recognized as the father of modern optics.

Biography

Ibn al-Haytham, also called Alhazen, belongs to an Arabic family that started to live in Basra (now in Iraq). He was born in 965 CE during the Golden Era of Muslims. He got his education from the teacher of Basra on mathematics, physics, astronomy, and Islamic religion. At an early age, he became very famous due to his expertise in applied mathematics.

Ibn al-Haytham traveled a lot to gain knowledge and visited many cities of the world including Cairo, Egypt. During his stay in Cairo, he held the position among top scholars and taught in the centers of learning. After some time, Ibn al-Haytham claimed that he could regulate the water flow of the River Nile and was invited by the Caliph (head of the Muslim state) to do this job. When he analyzed several designs for water regulation, he found that it was not practical to regulate the Nile. So, he had to flee from the caliph due to strong aggression from him. Ibn al-Haytham had to hide from the caliph until the caliph died, but during that time he also continued his research work.

Ibn al-Haytham wrote many books on optics, astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. He spent the last years of his life in Cairo, Egypt, where he also wrote a famous book on optics, called Kitab-al-Manazir – which means the Book of Optics. In this book, he discussed the structure of the human eye and how light works. Ibn al-Haytham 1040 CE at the age of 75 years.

Contributions and Discoveries

Ibn Al-Haytham wrote many books on astronomy, physics, and mathematics. Among these books, the most famous book is the Book of Optics. Some of his contributions are:

  • Optics:
    The Book of Optics that he wrote to discuss the principles and working of light had seven volumes. He researched the working principles of light and wrote about it in the book for ten years. The book was translated into many languages and got huge feedback. In his book, he described how our eye sees and disproved many old concepts of Ptolemy and Euclid. Also, he proved that light travels in straight lines. He described every principle in his book based on experimental observations.
  • Camera Obscura (Pinhole Camera):
    Working-of-Pinhole-camera
    Working of the Pinhole Camera

    Ibn al-Haytham invented a working model of camera obscura that worked on the principles of light. This camera constructed the projection of objects when light from objects entered the hole of the camera. The entered light then projected the inverted image of the actual object inside the camera. Ibn al-Haytham was also successful in projecting the solar eclipse in his camera.

  • Mathematics:
    Ibn al-Haytham was also a famous mathematician who provided a link between geometry and algebra. He also developed a mathematical formula for finding the sum of the first 100 numbers of Natural Set.
  • Scientific Method:
    The scientific method is a process of acquiring knowledge, mostly scientific, by carefully observing and experimenting. This method was first developed by Ibn al-Haytham which caused the scientific revolution in Europe in the 17th The scientific method involves getting data from observations, writing a hypothesis, making predictions, and experimenting.
  • Inertia:
    Inertia is a physical property of matter in which an object tends to stay in motion or stay at rest until external force is applied to the object. This idea was discussed by Ibn al-Haytham before Galileo Galilei.
  • Astronomy:
    Ibn al-Haytham made contributions to astronomy during his work on optics. He worked on the Ptolemaic model of the universe, in which Ptolemy explained that Earth is at the center of the universe. Ibn al-Haytham criticized this model and presented a new model in which he improved the motion of celestial bodies.

Facts

  • Ibn al-Haytham suggested that the atmosphere of the Earth is not infinite in space but it is only around 40 kilometers high. Today, we know that around 90% of the atmosphere is below the altitude of 10 kilometers; this layer is called the troposphere. He found this fact by studying the light and motion of the sun.
  • Ibn al-Haytham wrote around 96 books in various fields, out of which only 55 have survived to this date.
  • Political issues brought Ibn al-Haytham before the caliph. He pretended to be a mad person to avoid being punished severely. However, he was ordered to remain under house arrest.
Muhammad-ibn-Musa-al-Khwarizmi-portrait

Muhammad-ibn-Musa-al-Khwarizmi-portraitAl-Khwarizmi is one of the most famous mathematicians, astronomers, and geologists at the time of the Golden Era of Muslims. He is also the inventor of many mathematical methods and a branch of math, called Algebra. Furthermore, he was the first to use decimals to express the fractions.

Biography

Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, nicknamed Al-Khwarizmi, belongs to a Persian family from Khorasan – now located in Uzbekistan. The exact date of his birth is not clear, but it is normally considered to be 780 CE. There is very little information about his early life, but it is clear that he was one of the brilliant students in Baghdad, Iraq.

Baghdad was the city of knowledge at the time of the Golden Era of Muslims. There was a large institute in Baghdad at the time of Al-Khwarizmi, called Dar al-Hikmah (The House of Wisdom). Al-Khwarizmi was one of the many researchers working in the House of Wisdom as a mathematician, geologist, and astronomer. The ruler of Baghdad at that time was Caliph Al-Ma’mun, who was a strong supporter of research works in the fields of science, mathematics, art, literature, and other disciplines. Al-Khwarizmi was mostly prospered in his reign.

He made most of his discoveries and scientific contributions in the period of 813 to 833 CE. He was also an excellent translator and has translated so many books into the Arabic language from other languages, such as Sanskrit and Greek. He died at the age of 70 years in 850 CE.

Algebra Invention

The most famous work of Al-Khwarizmi was the development of algebra, a branch of math that deals with symbols and the operations between them. Algebra is a very important field in mathematics and forms the foundation of modern science and technology. Al-Khwarizmi defined algebra in his famous book of mathematics, known as “Kitab al-Mukhtasar fi Hisab al-Jabr wal-Muqabala” (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing). This book was very famous and was translated into many languages, before the dawn of the European era, to teach and learn algebra. The book also discussed some methods of solving algebraic problems.

Al-Khwarizmi developed a systematic approach for solving linear and quadratic equations to find unknown quantities, also called variables. He used words and abbreviations to represent unknown quantities (variables). To solve the equations, he combined the terms, isolated the variables, and performed operations for simplifying the equations.

Discoveries and Contributions

Sculpture-of-al-Khwarizmi
Sculpture of Al-Khwarizmi

Al-Khwarizmi has contributed many things in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and geology. Some of his main discoveries and contributions are:

  • Algorithms:
    Algorithm is an Arabic word that is now used to define a process in which certain steps are performed for the solution of a problem; especially in computers. The concept of algorithms was first given by Al-Khwarizmi to solve certain problems in defined steps of calculations. Today, computers widely use algorithms to solve a wide variety of problems and in decision-making. Due to the introduction of the concept of algorithms, Al-Khwarizmi is sometimes referred to as the father of computer science.
  • Improvements in Sundials:
    Sundial is an instrument that shows time with the help of the position of the Sun. The sun forms a shadow of the pointer on a plate that contains marks of the period. The shadow of the pointer rotates on the marks when the sun changes its position. Al-Khwarizmi improved the design of sundials and made them a universal instrument for checking the time in any part of the world.
  • Decimal System:
    Al-Khwarizmi was the first to introduce the decimal system for representing numbers. He introduced the concept of zero and explained this numbering system in his book, “Kitab al-Fusul fi al-Hisab al-Hindi”.
  • Map Development:
    Al-Khwarizmi developed an accurate map of that time with the help of 70 geographers. He developed the usage of latitude and longitude to pinpoint the location on the map.

Facts

  • The Soviet Union issued a stamp in 1983 on which image of Al-Khwarizmi was engraved.
  • The Amir Kabir University of Tehran in Iran has placed the statue of Al-Khwarizmi.
  • Al-Khwarizmi became the head of Dar-ul-Hikmat (House of Wisdom) at the time of Muslim Caliph Mamun.