The Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers

The Hellenistic traditions, beginning with Euclid, Ptolemy and Archimedes, were continued by the Arabs and in the Muslim world in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, physics and astronomy.

Maths

Works in the field of arithmetic were translated from Sanskrit (but mainly Greek) and the Arabs borrowed the novel Indian concept of zero and used a then-novel base ten (decimal) Indian numeral system. Algebra (al-Jabr) was a new Arabic branch of mathematics popularised by Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarasmi (d. 850) after whom the algorithm was also named.

Physics

Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen to the West), who lived in Iraq and Egypt in the 11^th Century and possibly also the 10^th Century and was translated into Latin for study in the West, developed the study of light (optics). The Sons of Musa, who worked in Baghdad, produced an illustrated 9^th Century work of mechanical engineering. Al-Jazari, working in northern Iraq and northern Syria, produced an important illustrated 14^th Century work. Al-Farabi of Baghdad and Syria produced a major work of musicology (properly considered as an element of physics) in the 10^th Century. Ibn al-Munajjim (10^th Century) and al-Armawi (13^th Century), both of Baghdad, also produced works of musicology.

Astronomy and Observatories

The first Arab-Islamic observatories date to the early 9^th Century. At-Tusi (d. 1274) and Shirazi (d. 1311) were important for their practical application of astronomy. Much of the development occurred in Iran and Central Asia. Development of astronomy continued in the Ottoman period in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries and Arab astronomy was important to the work of Copernicus, who was the first (but only in the West) to propose an end to Ptolemy's Geocentric model of the Cosmos in favour of the still limited but at least improved Heliocentric one later supported by the further observations of Galileo.