ʿAlī al-Qūschdschī

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Ali al-Qushdschī, right in front of Sultan Mehmed II.

ʿAlā 'ad-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muhammad al-Qūschdschī ( Arabic علاء الدين علي بن محمد القوشجي, DMG ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-Qūšǧī , also vocalized al-Qauschadschī , Turkish Ali Kuşçu ; * 1403 in Samarkand ; † December 16, 1474 in Istanbul ) was an astronomer , mathematician and theologian in the 15th century who worked first in Samarkand at the court of the Timurids , then in Istanbul at the court of the Ottomans . According to various biographical sources, he is said to have been of Turkish or Persian descent.

Life

His father was a falconer for the Timurid prince Shah-Ruch (hence the name "Qūschtschī" / "Qūščī", generally Turkish for "falconer"). Al-Qushdschī was a student and collaborator of his son Ulugh Beg in Samarkand and researched and taught at his madrasah and observatory . After the death of Qadi Zada ​​in 1436, he headed the observatory and continued the observations, which were included in the star tables Zīdsch-e dschadīd-e sulṭānī . After Ulugh Beg was assassinated in 1449, the observatory was destroyed. Al-Qushdschī managed to escape to Tabris . He managed to save a copy of the Zīdsch-e sulṭānī star tables , which summarized the work of the astronomers around Ulugh Beg.

Star tables Zīdsch-e Sultānī

Uzun Hasan , the ruler of the Turkmen Confederation of White Wethers in Tabris , sent him as ambassador to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in Istanbul. Later he taught at the madrasa at Hagia Sofia .

His astronomical work included a reform of the Ptolemaic model of the motion of the planet Mercury. His hypothesis of the rotation of the earth is in the tradition of Islamic astronomy since the school of Maragha around Nasir Ad-din at-Tusi . They relied on the observation of comets. Nicolaus Copernicus was familiar with these hypotheses.

As the US American physicist, historian and author John Freely (1926 - 2017) describes in his book "Copernicus, the Man and His Universe" (2014), Ali al-Qushji (also Ali Qushji) should know about the one who worked in Italy Greek scholar (and later cardinal) Basilius Bessarion (1403–1472), who previously also taught in Constantinople, came across the work "Epitoma in almagestum Ptolomaei" by the astronomer Georg von Peuerbach (1423-1461), who taught at the University of Vienna. Copernicus also read the "Epitoma" when he was a student, because at least two of the tenets outlined in it were incorporated into the formulation of his planetary theory. John Freely writes about this in his book (p. 77, German version) "In that case, Bessarion and Peuerbach (Regiomontanus) would be in a long line of natural scholars, from Aristarchus of Samos to the Arab and Latin scholars of the Middle Ages and early modern times up to Copernicus. "

Ancient knowledge, translated and further enriched by Arab scholars, found its way back to the awakening Europe, at the beginning of the Italian Renaissance and the establishment of the first European universities.

The star tables were not printed in England until 1665, but there was a translation into Hebrew in Venice as early as 1500.

Works

  • Commentary on al-Tusis Tajrid-al-'Aqaid (Abstract of Theology)

astronomy

  • Şerh-i Zîc-i Uluğ Bey
  • Risâle fî Halli Eşkâli Mu'addili'l-Kamer li'l-Mesîr (Fâide fî Eşkâli 'Utârid)
  • Risâle fî Asli'l-Hâric Yumkin fî's-Sufliyyeyn
  • Şerh 'ale't-Tuhfeti'ş-Şâhiyye fî'l-Hey'e
  • Risulah dar 'ilm al-Hay'a (Treatise on Astronomy); Commentary on at-Tusis Al-Tadhkirah fi'ilm al-hay'ah
  • el-Fethiyye fî 'İlmi'l-Hey'e
  • Risâle fî Halli Eşkâli'l-Kamer

mathematics

  • Risâletu'l-Muhammediyye fî'l-Hisâb
  • Risulah dar 'ilm al-Hisab (Treatise on Arithmetic)

Islamic jurisprudence

  • Eş-Şerhu'l-Cedîd ale't-Tecrîd
  • Hasiye ale't-Telvîh
  • Unkud-üz-Zevahir fi Nazm-ül-Cevahir

mechanics

  • Tezkire fî Âlâti'r-Ruhâniyye

linguistics

  • Şerhu'r-Risâleti'l-Vadiyye
  • El-İfsâh
  • El-Unkûdu'z-Zevâhir fî Nazmi'l-Cevâhir
  • Şerhu'ş-Şâfiye
  • Risâle fî Beyâni Vadi'l-Mufredât
  • Fâ'ide li-Tahkîki Lâmi't-Ta'rîf
  • Risâle mâ Ene Kultu
  • Risâle fî'l-Hamd
  • Risâle fî İlmi'l-Me'ânî
  • Risâle fî Bahsi'l-Mufred
  • Risâle fî'l-Fenni's-Sânî min İlmihal-Beyân
  • Tefsîru'l-Bakara ve Âli İmrân
  • Risâle fî'l-İstişâre
  • Mahbub-ül-Hamail fi keşif-il-mesail
  • Tecrid-ul-Kelam

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b F. Rahman, D. Pingree: ʿALĪ QŪŠJĪ. In: Encyclopaedia Iranica . online edition, 2010.
  2. ↑ Among them, a Turk from Central Asia, Ali Kuscu, was one of the finest mathematicians and astronomers of his epoch. In: Amir Hasan Siddiqi: Cultural centers of Islam . Jamiyat-ul-Falah Publications, 1970, p. 90 ( Google Books ).
  3. ↑ During the fifteenth century this method of representing decimal fractions came to be known outside the Islamic world as the Turkish method, after a Turkish colleague of al-Kashi, known as Ali Qushji, who provided an explanation. In: George Gheverghese Joseph: The crest of the peacock: non-European roots of mathematics. Princeton University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-13526-7 , p. 469.
  4. ↑ Greaves quotes from Risala dar 'ilm al-Hay'a of' Ali b. Moo 'Ala al-Din Qushji. This Persian author was the son of an official of Ulugh Beg, and also a student of Qadi Zadeh. In: GA Russell: The 'Arabick' Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-century England. Brill, Leiden 1994, ISBN 90-04-09888-7 , p. 162.
  5. ↑ MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE WORLD, www.physicsoftheuniverse.com
  6. ↑ Thomas Hyde (1636-1703). Tabulae long. ac lat.stellarum fixarum, ex observatione Ulugh Beighi, Tamerlanis Magni Nepotis, Regionum ultra citraque Gjihun (i. Oxum) Principis potentissimi. Ex tribus invicem collatis MSS. Persicis jam primum Luce ac Latiodonavit, & commentariis illustravit, Thomas Hyde. In calce libriaccesserunt Mohammedis Tizini tabulae declinationum & rectarium ascensionum. Additur demum Elenchus Nominum Stellarum. Oxonii: Typis Henrici Hall, sumptibus authoris. 1665.
personal data
SURNAME ʿAlī al-Qushdschī
ALTERNATIVE NAMES ʿAlāʾ ad-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muhammad al-Qushdschī (full name); علا الدين علي بن محمد القشجى (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION islamic astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 1403
PLACE OF BIRTH Samarkand
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1474
Place of death Istanbul