Biruni's works number 146 in total. These include 35 books on astronomy, 4 on astrolabes, 23 on astrology, 5 on chronology, 2 on time measurement, 9 on geography, 10 on geodesy and mapping theory, 15 on mathematics (8 on arithmetic, 5 on geometry, 2 on trigonometry), 2 on mechanics, 2 on medicine and pharmacology, 1 on meteorology, 2 on mineralogy and gems, 4 on history, 2 on India, 3 on religion and philosophy, 16 literary works, 2 books on magic, and 9 unclassified books. Among these works, only 22 have survived, and only 13 of these works have been published.[9] His extant works include:
- Critical study of what India says, whether accepted by reason or refused (Arabic تحقيق ما للهند من مقولة معقولة في العقل أم مرذولة) - a compendium of India's religion and philosophy
- The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries (Arabic الآثار الباقية عن القرون الخالية) - a comparative study of calendars of different cultures and civilizations, interlaced with mathematical, astronomical, and historical information.
- The Mas'udi Canon (Persian قانون مسعودي) - an extensive encyclopedia on astronomy, geography, and engineering, named after Mas'ud, son of Mahmud of Ghazni, to whom he dedicated
- Understanding Astrology (Arabic التفهيم لصناعة التنجيم) - a question and answer style book about mathematics and astronomy, in Arabic and Persian
- Pharmacy - about drugs and medicines
- Gems (Arabic الجماهر في معرفة الجواهر) about geology, minerals, and gems, dedicated to Mawdud son of Mas'ud
- Astrolabe
- A historical summary book
- History of Mahmud of Ghazni and his father
- History of Khawarazm
Anthropology
Biruni has been described as "the first anthropologist".[6] He wrote detailed comparative studies on the anthropology of peoples, religions and cultures in the Middle East, Mediterranean and South Asia. Biruni's anthropology of religion was only possible for a scholar deeply immersed in the lore of other nations.[10] Biruni has also been praised by several scholars for his Islamic anthropology.[11]
Astronomy
In astronomy, Al-Biruni invented and wrote the earliest treatises on the planisphere and the orthographical astrolabe, as well as the armillary sphere, and was able to mathematically determine the direction of the Qibla from any place in the world.[12][13]
In 1030, Biruni discussed the Indian heliocentric theories of Aryabhata, Brahmagupta and Varahamihira in his Indica. Biruni noted that the question of heliocentricity was a philosophical rather than a mathematical problem.[14]
In 1031, al-Biruni completed his extensive astronomical encyclopaedia Kitab al-Qanun al-Mas'udi (Latinized as Canon Mas’udicus),[15] in which he recorded his astronomical findings and formulated astronomical tables. The book introduces the mathematical technique of analysing the acceleration of the planets, and first states that the motions of the solar apogee and the precession are not identical. Al-Biruni also discovered that the distance between the Earth and the Sun is larger than Ptolemy's estimate, on the basis that Ptolemy disregarded the annual solar eclipses.[12][16]
Al-Biruni also described the Earth's gravitation as:[12]
"The attraction of all things towards the centre of the earth."
Abu Said Sinjari, a contemporary of al-Biruni, suggested the possible heliocentric movement of the Earth around the Sun, which al-Biruni did not reject.[17] Although al-Biruni was one of the first astronomers to suggest the Earth's rotation about its own axis, it is not clear whether he supported a geocentric or heliocentric model. He remarked that if the Earth rotates on its axis and moves around the Sun, it would remain consistent with his astronomical parameters:[12][13]
"Rotation of the earth would in no way invalidate astronomical calculations, for all the astronomical data are as explicable in terms of the one theory as of the other. The problem is thus difficult of solution."
Will Durant wrote the following on al-Biruni's contributions to astronomy:
"He wrote treatises on the astrolabe, the planisphere, the armillary sphere; and formulated astronomical tables for Sultan Masud. He took it for granted that the earth is round, noted “the attraction of all things towards the center of the earth,” and remarked that astronomic data can be explained as well by supposing that the earth turns daily on its axis and annually around the sun, as by the reverse hypothesis."[18]
Cartography
By the age of twenty-two, he had written several short works, including a study of map projections, Cartography, which included a methodology for projecting a hemisphere on a plane.
Chronology
By the age of twenty-seven, he had written a book called Chronology which referred to other works he had completed (now lost) that included one book about the astrolabe, one about the decimal system, four about astrology, and two about history.
Geodesy and Geography
Biruni made a number of contributions to the Earth sciences. In particular, he is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to the field of geodesy,[6][19] along with his significant contributions to geography.
At the age of seventeen, Biruni calculated the latitude of Kath, Khwarazm, using the maximum altitude of the Sun. Biruni also solved a complex geodesic equation in order to accurately compute the Earth's circumference, which were close to modern values of the Earth's circumference.[12][20] His estimate of 6,339.9 km for the Earth radius was only 16.8 km less than the modern value of 6,356.7 km.
John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson write in the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive:
"Important contributions to geodesy and geography were also made by al-Biruni. He introduced techniques to measure the earth and distances on it using triangulation. He found the radius of the earth to be 6339.6 km, a value not obtained in the West until the 16th century. His Masudic canon contains a table giving the coordinates of six hundred places, almost all of which he had direct knowledge."[21]
Geology
Among his writings on geology, Biruni wrote the following on the geology of India:
"But if you see the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature, if you consider the rounded stones found in earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current: stones that are of smaller size at a greater distance from the mountains and where the streams flow more slowly: stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you consider all this you can scarcely help thinking that India was once a sea, which by degrees has been filled up by the alluvium of the streams."[22]
History
Until the 10th century, history most often meant political and military history, but this was not so with Persian historian Biruni (973-1048). In his Kitab fi Tahqiq ma l'il-Hind (Researches on India), he did not record political and military history in any detail, but wrote more on India's cultural, scientific, social and religious history. He also discussed more on his idea of history in another work, The Chronology of the Ancient Nations.[23]
Mathematics
He made significant contributions to mathematics, especially in the fields of theoretical and practical arithmetic, summation of series, combinatorial analysis, the rule of three, irrational numbers, ratio theory, algebraic definitions, method of solving algebraic equations, geometry, and the development of Archimedes' theorems.
Physics
In physics, al-Biruni measured the specific gravities of eighteen gemstones, and discovered that there is a correlation between the specific gravity of an object and the volume of water it displaces.[24] During his experiments, he invented the conical measure,[25] in order to find the ratio between the weight of a substance in air and the weight of water displaced, and to accurately measure the specific weights of the gemstones and their corresponding metals, which are very close to modern measurements. He also introduced the method of checking tests during experiments, measured the weights of various liquids, and recorded the differences in weight between fresh water and salt water, and between hot water and cold water.[26]
No comments:
Post a Comment