Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Personality of the Day - Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1131) was an extremely talented and famous Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and poet.
 
The full name of Khayyam was Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nishapuri al-Khayyami. Omar Khayyam was born on May 18, 1048 in Nishapur, Iran. His work as an outstanding mathematician and astronomer had led to the reform of the ancient Muslim calendar.

As A Mathematician
He authored the very famous and influential “Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra” (1070), which designed the principles of algebra.  In his treatise, he worked on the triangular array of binomial coefficients called as “Pascal's triangle”.  In 1077, he finished writing “Sharh ma ashkala min musadarat kitab Uqlidis.”  This work got published in English by the title “On the Difficulties of Euclid's Definitions”.

As An Astronomer
Khayyam was a popular and eminent astronomer too.  The version of Iranian calendar of the medieval times in which compilation of 2,820 solar years cover 1,029,983 days was grounded on the measurements of Khayyám and his co-scientists.

As A Poet
The poetic works of Khayyam has surpassed his popularity as a mathematician and scientist. It is said that he wrote around a thousand four-line verses or “Rubaiyat” (quatrains).

As A Philosopher
Khayyam never accepted himself with the title “falsafi” in the sense of Aristotelian one. He was marked as the one “detached from divine blessings”, by his contemporaries. Apparently, he was quite influenced by the Epicurus’s philosophy.  Also, he taught the philosophy of Avicena for a large number of years, particularly “the Book of Healing” in his native town Nishapur until his death. 

Source: www.thefamouspeople.com