Al-Birjandi

Abd al-Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Husayn al-Birjandi (d. 934 AH /1528 CE) prominent 16th century Islamic astronomy Persian Astronomer, mathematician and physicist who lived in Birjand, Iran.

His works

He wrote some more than 13 books and treatises;

1. Sharh al-tadhkirah (A commentary on al-Tusi's memoir). The text, in some copies of the manuscript from 17th century, is written throughout in black and red ink with diagrams illustrating many of the astronomical elements discussed. The 11th chapter of the book was translated to Sanskrit in 1729 at Jaipur by Nayanasukhopadhyaya. Kusuba and Pingree present an edition of the Sanskrit, and in a separate section, an English translation facing the Arabic original. That chapter has attracted attention among European scholars since the late 19th century. Al-Birjandi on Tadhkira II, Chapter 11, and Its Sanskrit Translation by Kusuba K. and Pingree D. ISBN 9789004124752 was published in 2001 by Brill Academic Publishers.

2. Sharh-i Bist Bab dar Ma'rifat-i A'mal-i al-Asturlab (Commentary on "Twenty Chapters Dealing with the Uses of the Astrolabe" of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi; Persian.

3. Risalah fi Alat al-Rasad (Epistle on observational instruments); Arabic

4. Tadhkirat al-Ahbab fi Bayan al-Tahabub (Memoir of friends: concerning the explanation of friendship [of numbers]); Arabic.

He also wrote some treatises on theology.

Astronomy and Astrophysics

In Islamic astronomy and astrophysics, al-Birjandi continued Ali al-Qushji's debate on the Earth's rotation. In his analysis of what might occur if the Earth were rotating, he develops a hypothesis similar to Galileo Galilei's notion of "circular inertia", which he described in the following observational test (as a response to one of Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi's arguments):

"The small or large rock will fall to the Earth along the path of a line that is perpendicular to the plane (sath) of the horizon; this is witnessed by experience (tajriba). And this perpendicular is away from the tangent point of the Earth’s sphere and the plane of the perceived (hissi) horizon. This point moves with the motion of the Earth and thus there will be no difference in place of fall of the two rocks."

See also

• List of Iranian scientists and scholars
• Islamic science
  • Islamic astronomy
• List of Muslim scientists
  • List of Muslim astronomers

References

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