Ibn Al Hatham is one of the famous names in the scientific thinkers of the Muslim era. There are different Muslim scientists and thinkers who came and made a name in the history of the world. Ibn Al Hatham is one of those prominent names that will always remain in the minds of people.
About Ibn Al Hatham
He was born around a thousand years ago in Basra. He is known in the west as the Latinised form of his first name, initially “Alhacen” and later “Alhazen”.
Pioneering in the scientific field
Ibn Al Hatham is recognized as one of the pioneering scientific thinkers. He made significant contributions to the aspects of vision, optics, and light. From the methodology of investigation and different experiments, diverse results came out. These similarities and theories later recognized as the modern scientific method.
During several years of living in Egypt, he was in protective custody (house arrest). Under this custody, he wrote the book “Book of Optics”(Kitab al-Manazir) and it later got translated into Latin (De Aspectibus). It also falls in the broader category of Book of Vision. His ideas greatly influenced many European scholars. Due to his all experiments and theories, many people consider him as a fundamental figure and mention his name at the top in the history of optics. Thus he named him the “Father of modern Optics”.
Ibn al-Haytham created major advances in optics, mathematics, and astronomy. He did phenomenal work on optics that was really useful to test different theories and hypotheses. In this aspect, he used procedures that were quite similar to modern scientists and their investigative research.
The outlook of Ibn Al Hatham’s life
- He was born in 965 in Basra, during the peak of Muslim civilization.
- He was invited to Egypt in order to help in the building of a dam on the Nile. But after visiting the field, he refused to work on the project and this became the cause of his protective custody for 10 years.
- Through different observations of light entering in the darkroom, he created major breakthroughs in understanding the core aspects of light and vision.
- His discoveries significantly impacted the scientific world thus resulted in the revision of ancient views about our eyesight.
- Through different studies, he named several eye parts like the lens, the retina, and the cornea.
- With all of his work, he set higher standards in experimental science.
- He completed his worthy Book of Optics sometime in 1027.
- He died at the age of 74 in around the year 1040.
Throughout life, Ibn Al Hatham presented diversified innovative points that later turned into theories. He was born in the creative period that is also called the golden age of Muslim civilization. This period has seen great fascinating advances in science, technology, and medicine. The era brought up several discoveries and scientific thinkers that impacted the world really well while some remain underappreciated.
This was the life reflection of one of the scientific thinkers, Ibn Al Hatham. Do you have more information about his life or work? Then share with us!
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