Muhyī ad-Dīn al-Maghribī

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Muhyī ad-Dīn al-Maghribī or Ibn Abi asch-Shukr ( Arabic محيي الدين المغربي, DMG Muḥyī d-Dīn al-Maġribī , Spanish Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi ) was a 13th century Arab astronomer and mathematician from Spain ( al-Andalus ). He is best known for performing in trigonometry .

He worked in Damascus and was from 1258 under Nasīr ad-Dīn at-Tūsī at the newly built observatory, which was built by the Mongol ruler Hülegü , the conqueror of Baghdad , in his capital in Maragha . There is a manuscript in which al-Maghribi lists his observations at the observatory between 1262 and 1274. In his Essence of Almagest he states the observation of the obliqueness of the ecliptic of 1265 as 23 ° 30 'degrees (the true value at that time was about 23 ° 32'). He wrote three astronomical handbooks (Zij), including the Taj al-azyaj ( Crown of Astronomical Handbooks , 1258, Taj for short ) and a second treatise ( Adwar ) from 1275 with his observations in Maragha, three commentaries on Almagest , a treatise on the astrolabe and a treatise on the determination of the meridian, among other things. The Taj had an influence on North African (Maghrebian) scientists and those in al-Andalus and Spain (Latin works mainly from Barcelona and Hebrew works). The Mongol ruler Hulegü, like his brother Kublai Khan, was interested in astronomy and astrology in China and, according to Bar Hebraeus, al-Maghribi himself said that his knowledge of astrology saved his life during the conquest by the Mongols. Hülegü and Kublai Khan exchanged ideas and had astronomical works translated from Persian and Arabic into Chinese. He was in Baghdad at least once with the son of Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi. Al-Maghribi's extensive planetary observation program led to the determination of some new astronomical parameters.

He wrote a book about Menelaus' theorem and the calculation of values ​​of the sine function and the interpolation used for it. He used two different approximation methods and obtained from the two together a sine value of one degree, accurate to four digits. Better values ​​were only achieved through Qadi Zada and Jamschid al-Kashi . For the calculation of he used a polygon of 96 sides inscribed in the circle and a rewritten polygon. He gives formulas of spherical trigonometry with proofs that partly differ from those of Nasir at-Tusi.

He dealt with doubling the dice , using the method already used by Hippocrates of Chios . He wrote comments on the elements of Euclid , the Sphaerica of Theodosius of Bithynia and that of Menelaus , the doctrine of conics by Apollonios of Perge . The commentaries on Book 15 of the Elements, which did not come from Euclid, are of particular importance, the Arabic original of which has not survived, but four manuscripts with the commentary by al-Maghribi. There is also a Hebrew translation, but it differs from the version of al-Maghribi.

He also wrote several books on astrology and one on chronology, that is, on Uighur and Chinese calendars.

literature

  • S. Tekeli: Muhyi 'L-Din Al-Maghribi , in: Dictionary of Scientific Biography , Volume 9, pp. 555-557
  • Mercè Comes: Ibn Abī al-Shukr: Muḥyī al-Milla wa-ʾl-Dīn Yaḥyā Abū ʿAbdallāh ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Shukr al-Maghribī al-Andalusī [al-Qurṭubī] , in: Thomas Hockey (ed.), The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer 2007, pp. 548-549.
  • JP Hogendijk: An Arabic text on the comparison of the five regular polyhedra: 'Book XV' of the 'Revision of the Elements' by Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi, Z. Gesch. Arab-Islam. Wiss., Volume 8, 1993, pp. 133-233.
  • G. Saliba: Solar observations at the Maraghah observatory before 1275: a new set of parameters , J. Hist. Astronom., Vol. 16, 1985, pp. 113-122.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to Comes' article about him in Hockey (Ed.), Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer 2007, p. 548, he died in Maragha in June 1283
  2. ↑ a b Comes in Hockey (Ed.), Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer 2007, pp. 548-549
personal data
SURNAME Maghribi, Muhyi ad-Din al-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ibn Abi ash-Shukr
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Arab astronomer and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH in the 13th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Spain
DATE OF DEATH in the 13th century