Born Baghdad, (Iraq), 908/909
Died Baghdad, (Iraq), 946
Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān was a creative scientist who, despite his short life, made numerous important contributions to both mathematics and astronomy. He was born to an illustrious scientific family. As his name suggests his grandfather was the renowned Thābit ibn Qurra; his father Sinān ibn Thābit was also an important mathematician and physician. Ibn Sinān was productive from an early age; according to his autobiography, he began his research at 15 and had written his first work (on shadow instruments) by 16 or 17. We have his own word that he intended to return to Baghdad to make observations to test his astronomical theories. He did return, but it is unknown whether he made his observations. Ibn Sinān died suffering from a swollen liver.
Ibn Sinān's mathematical works contain a number of powerful and novel investigations. These include a treatise on how to draw conic sections, useful for the construction of sundials; an elegant...
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Selected References
Ali, Jamil (trans.) (1967). The Determination of the Coordinates of Cities: Al‐Bīrūnī's Tahdīd al‐Amākin. Beirut: American University of Beirut.
Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān (1983). The Works of Ibrahīm ibn Sinan (in Arabic), edited by A. S. Saidan. Kuwait.
——— (1999). Die Schrift des Ibrāhīm b. Sinān b. Tābit über die Schatteninstrumente. Translated and annotated by Paul Luckey, edited by Jan P. Hogendijk. Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic‐Islamic Science.
Kennedy, E. S. (1973). A Commentary Upon Bīrūnī's Kitāb Tahdīd al‐Amākin. Beirut: American University of Beirut.
——— (1976). The Exhaustive Treatise on Shadows by Abū al‐Rayhān Muhammad b. Ahmad al‐Bīrūnī. Translation and commentary. 2 Vols. Aleppo: Institute for the History of Arabic Science.
Ragep, F. J. (1993). Nasīr al‐Dīn al‐Tūsī's Memoir on Astronomy (al‐Tadhkira fī ҁ ilm al‐hay'a). 2 Vols. New York: Springer‐Verlag, Vol. 2, pp. 400–408.
Rashed, Roshdi (1997). “Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān.” In Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non‐Western Cultures, edited by Helaine Selin, pp. 441–442. Dordrecht: Kluwer, Academic Publishers.
Rashed, Roshdi and Hélène Bellosta (2000). Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān: Logique et géométrie au X e siècle. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Sezgin, Fuat. Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol. 5, Mathematik (1974): 292–295; Vol. 6, Astronomie (1978): 193–195; Vol. 7, Astrologie – Meterologie und Verwandtes (1979): 274–275. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
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Brummelen, G.V. (2007). Ibrāhīm ibn Sinān ibn Thābit ibn Qurra. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_697
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