Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780 – c. 850), often referred to as just al-Khwarizmi, was a Persian polymath who lived during the Islamic Golden Age and produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography.
Biography[]
Calculating the Earth's circumference[]
Around 830, al-Khwarizmi was part of a team of 70 mathematicians, which also included the triplet brothers Abu Jafar, Ahmad and Al-Hasan ibn Musa,[1] that sought to recreate the experiment of the Ancient Greek polymath Eratosthenes to calculate the Earth's circumference. The team hoped to improve on their predecessor's method and diminish the risk of error by using points separated by a single degree.[2]
Traveling from Baghdad to the surrounding desert and trying to follow a North-South road, the mathematicians stopped once they reached a point where the elevation of the Pole star had changed by a degree. In the end, the experiment produced results similar to Eratosthenes' findings.[2]
Meeting Basim[]
Around 820, al-Khwarizmi was appointed as the astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad.[3] It was here that he later met a young Basim Ibn Ishaq, a frequent visitor of the library. One day, while Basim was reading one of al-Khwarizmi's studies, the polymath plucked them from his grasp and started teaching Basim astronomy and mathematics.[4]
Legacy[]
In 874, years after al-Khwarizmi's death, Basim recounted his meeting with him to Eivor Varinsdottir, remarking that, although al-Khwarizmi's presence had stolen his voice, the great man was kind and openhearted.[4]
Appearances[]
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla (first mentioned)
- Assassin's Creed: Mirage (mentioned in Database entry only)
