List of pre-modern Iranian scientists and scholars

This article is about ethnic Persian scientists and scholars of the pre-modern era. For scientists from the modern Iran, see List of contemporary Iranian scientists, scholars, and engineers.

Photo taken from medieval manuscript by Qotbeddin Shirazi. The image depicts an epicyclic planetary model.

Pre-modern Era

The following is a non-comprehensive list of Persian scientists and engineers that lived from antiquity up until the beginning of the modern age.

A

• Abdol-Hamid, founder of Arabic prose along with the fellow Persian Ibn Muqaffa.
• Abhari, mathematician.

• Abu Nasr e Mansur, mathematician.
• Abu Sa'id al-Darir al-Jurajani
• Abu Wafa Buzjani, mathematician.
• Azod al-Dowleh, prominent scientific patron
• Ahmad ibn Farrokh, physician.
• Ahmad Ibn Imad ul-din, physician and chemist.
• Ala'eddin, constructed the Counterweight Trebuchet for Kubilai. He was thus honoured in the official history of China's Yuan Dynasty. (p119)
• Alavi Shirazi, royal physician to India.

• Amuli, Muhammad ibn Mahmud, physician.
• Abū Ja'far al-Khāzin
• Ansari, Khwaja Abdullah, Islamic scholar.
• An Shihkao
• Aqa-Kermani, physician.
• Aqsara'i, physician.
• Arzani, Muqim, physician.
• Astarabadi, physician.
• Aufi, Muhammad, scientist and historian
• Avicenna (Ibn Sina), physician, philosopher
• Azophi, a.k.a. Abdorrahman Sufi, astronomer from Ray that invented the meridian ring.
• Ghiyāth al-Dīn Jamshīd ibn Masʾūd al-Kāshī,astronomer and mathematician.
• Abdollah Javadi-Amoli Philosoph shia

B

• Baghawi, Islamic scholar
• Bahai, Sheikhpoet, mathematician, and astronomer,engineer,designer,faghih(religious scientist),Architect
• Baladhuri, historian, d.892
• Balkhi, a.k.a. Albumasar, mathematician
• Balkhi, Ibn Sahl, geographer and mathematician
• Balkhi, Ibn
• Banū Mūsā Brothers
• Barmak, Khaled, Bhuddist from Khorasan in the court of al-Mansur, initiated the Greek translation movement of the Abbasid House of Wisdom
• Bayhaqi, historian
• Behbahani, Vahid, theologian
• Ibn Bibi, historian of the Seljuks of Rum
• Bukhari, prominent Islamic scholar
• Bukhtishu, Persian Christian physician of Academy of Gundishapur
• Bukhtishu, Abdollah ibn, Christian physician in Persia
• Bukhtishu, Gabriel ibn, Christian physician
• Bukhtishu, Yuhanna, Christian physician
• Burzoe, a.k.a. Borzouyeh-i Tabib, physician of Academy of Gundishapur
• Birjandi astronomer and mathematician 16th century

D

• Dīnawarī, Abū Ḥanīfa, d.896, polymath
• Dinawaree, ibn Qutaybah, d.885, historian

E

• Esfarayeni, physician

F

• Farghani, d.880, a.k.a. Alfraganus, astronomer
• Kamal al-Din Farisi, d.1318, mathematician
• Fazari, Ibrahim, d.777, mathematician and astronomer
• Fazari, Mohammad, d.796, mathematician and astronomer
• Ferdowsi, d.1020, the famous poet
• Feyz Kashani, Mohsen, d.1680, theologian

G

• Gardezi, Abu Said, d.1061, geographer and historian
• Ghazali (Algazel), d.1111, philosopher
• Gilani, Hakim, d.1069, royal physician
• Gorgani, Zayn al-Din Isma‘il ibn, d.1136, royal physician
• Gorgani, Abu Saeed, astronomer and mathematician
• Gorgani, Rostam, physician
• Gorgani e Masihi, see Masihi Gorgani, d.999, Avicenn'a master

H

• Hakim Ghulam Imam, physician
• Hakim Muhammad Mehdi Naqi, physician
• Hakim Muhammad Sharif Khan, physician
• Hakim Nishaburi, Islamic scholar
• Hallaj, Mystic-philosopher
• Haly Abbas, prominent physician
• Hamadani, Ali, physician
• Hamadani, Mir Sayyid Ali, poet and philosopher
• Hanbal, Ahmad Ibn, Islamic scholar
• Harawi, Abolfadl, astronomer of Buyid dynasty
• Harawi, Muwaffak: See Al-Muwaffak, pharmacologist
• Harawi, Muhammad ibn Yusuf, physician
• Harawi, Ali, traveller
• Majid Hassanizadeh, Professor of Hydrogeolgoy, Expertise: theories of porous media (Utrecht University, The Netherlands).
• Hasani, Qavameddin, physician
• Hedayat, Habibollah, Nutritionist and Obstetrician Gynecologist
• Hessaby, Mahmoud, physician

I

• Ibn Abi Sadiq, "The Second Hippocrates", Avicenna's disciple
• Ibn Haytham, physicist
• Ibn Khaseb, physician
• Ibn Khordadbeh, geographer
• Ibn Rustah
• Ilaqi, Yusef, Avicenna's pupil
• Ilyas, Yusef ibn, physician
• Isfahani Abol-fath, mathematician
• Ibn Sina, (Avicenna), Philosopher and Physician
• Isfahani, Jalaleddin, physician
• Isfahani, Husayn, physician
• Istakhri, geographer, gives the earliest known account of windmills
• Iranshahri, philosopher, the teacher of Muhammad Zakaria Razi.

J

• Jābir ibn Hayyān, a polymath who is considered the father of chemistry. He emphasized systematic experimentation, and did much to free alchemy from superstition and turn it into a science.
• Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi
• Jaghmini, physician
• Jaldaki, physician
• Juvayni, historian
• Juwayni, philosopher
• Juzjani, Abu Ubaid, physician
• Jamasb, philosopher

K

• Karaji, mathematician
• Kashani (Kashi), mathematician
• Kashfi, Jafar, theologian
• Kazerouni, Masoud, physician
• Kermani, Iwad, physician
• Kermani, Shams-ud-Din, Islamic scholar
• Khademhosseini, Alireza, Pioneer in Biomedical and Bioengineering
• Khazeni, Abu Jafar, mathematician
• Khazeni, Abolfath, physicist
• Khayyám, Omar, poet, mathematician, and astronomer
• Khorasani, Sultan Ali, physician
• Khujandi, mathematician and astronomer
• Khwarizmi (aka Al-Khwarazmi) creator of algorithm and algebra, mathematician and astronomer
• Kushyar ibn Labban, mathematician, Nasavi's master
• Kuhi, Rostam, mathematician
• Kubra, Najmeddin

M

• Mahani, mathematician
• Muhammad al-Fazari
• Muhammad Baqir Yazdi In the 17th century, He gave the pair of amicable numbers 9,363,584 and 9,437,056.
• Majusi, Ibn Abbas, physician
• Marvazi, astronomer and mathematician
• Marvazi, Abu Taher, philosopher
• Masawaiyh or Masuya
• Mashallah ibn Athari, of Jewish origins, from Khorasan who designed the city of Baghdad based on Firouzabad
• Masihi Gorgani, Avicenna's master
• Mirza Ali Hakim, physician
• Miskawayh, philosopher
• Mostowfi Qazvini, geographer
• Mullasadra, philosopher
• Muqaffa, Ibn, founder of Arabic prose along with Abdol-Hamid.
• bin Musa, Hasan, astronomer
• bin Musa, Ahmad, astronomer
• bin Musa, Muhammad, astronomer
• Muwaffaq, Abu mansur, pharmacologist
• Muhammad ibn Muhammad Tabrizi,philosopher

N

• Nagawri, physician
• Nahavandi, Benjamin, Jewish scholar
• Nahavandi, Ahmad, astronomer
• Nakhshabi, physician
• Nasir Gebelli, computer scientist and video game developer
• Nasir Khusraw, scientist, Ismaili scholar, mathematician, philosopher, Traveler and poet
• Nasavi, mathematician
• Natili Tabari, physician
• Naubakht, Designer of the city of Baghdad
• Naubakht, Fadhl ibn
• Nawbakhty, Islamic scholar, philosopher
• Nawbakhti, Ruh, Islamic scholar
• Nayrizi, mathematician
• Naqshband, Baha ud-Din, philosopher
• Neishaburi, physician
• Neman, Josh, Neuroscientist, Cancer Researcher
• Neishaburi, prominent Islamic scholar
• Nizami Ganjavi, romantic poet
• Nurbakhshi, physician

P

• Paul the Persian, philosopher.

Q

• Qazi Zadeh, prominent mathematician
• Qazwini, Zakariya, physician
• Qumi, Qazi Sa’id, theologian
• Qumri, physician
• Qushayri, Abd al-Karīm ibn Hawāzin, d.1074, philosopher

R

• Razi, Amin, geographer
• Razi Amoli, Fakhreddin, philosopher
• Razi, Zakariya (Rhazes), chemist and physicist
• Razi, Najmeddin
• Rumi, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad
• Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, historian, physician and politician
• Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, Physician

S

• Sabzevari, Mulla Hadi, poet and philosopher
• Saghani Ostorlabi, astronomer
• Sahl, Fadl ibn
• Sahl, Shapur ibn, physician
• Salman the Persian, religion commentator, companion of Prophet Muhammad
• Samarqandi, Najibeddin, physician
• Samarqandi, Ashraf, mathematician, astronomer.
• Sarakhsi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad, Islamic scholar
• Seifzadeh, Hossein,S. Political Scientist, Iranian Studies,
• Shahrastani historian of religions
• Shahrazuri, philosopher and physician
• Shahrazuri,Ibn al-Salah, Islamic scholar
• Shaykh Tusi, famous Islamic scholar
• Shaykh Saduq, theologian
• Shirazi, Imad al-Din Mas'ud, physician
• Shirazi, Muhammad Hadi Khorasani, physician
• Shirazi, Qutbeddin, astronomer
• Shirazi, Mahmud ibn Ilyas, physician
• Shirazi, Najm al-Din Mahmud ibn Ilyas, physician
• Shirazi, Qurayshi, physician
• Shirazi, Sultan Waezin, theologian
• Sijzi, mathematician
• Sijzi, Mas'ud, physician
• Soleiman ibn Hasan, physician
• Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi: see Azophi
• Suhrawardi, Shahab al-Din, philosopher

T

• Tabarani, Abu al-Qasim, Islamic scholar
• Tabari Amoli, prominent historian
• Tabari, Natili Amoli: See Al-Natili
• Tabari, ibn Farrukhan, astrologer and architect
• Tabari, Abul Hasan, physician.
• Tabari, Ibn Sahl, Jewish convert physician. Master of Rhazes
• Tabrizi, Maqsud Ali, physician.
• Taftazani, theologian, linguist
• Tayfur, Ibn Abi Tahir, d.893, linguist
• Tāriq, Yaqub ibn
• Tirmidhi, Islamic scholar
• Tunakabuni, physician
• Tughra'i, physician
• Tusi, Nizam ol-Molk, the great vizier
• Tusi, Nasireddin, mathematician, philosopher
• Tusi, Sharafeddin, mathematician

V

• Amin al-Din Rashid al-Din Vatvat, scholar and physician.
• Saba Valadkhan, biomedical scientist, and an Assistant Professor and RNA researcher at Case Western Reserve University

W

• Waqidi, historian

Y

• Yaqūb ibn Tāriq
• Yumn, Nazif ibn

Z

• Zamakhshari, scholar and geographer.
• Zarrin dast, oculist.
• Zayn-e-Attar, physician

See also

• List of contemporary Iranian scientists, scholars, and engineers
• Nizamiyyah
• Academy of Gundishapur
• International rankings of Iran in science and technology