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Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 11.35.30 AM.pngMuhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (780-850)

Wrote in Hindu-Arabic Numbers
First to Use Zero in Positional Base Notation
Worked in the House of Wisdom around 825 CE
Considered the Father of Algebra

For more on al-Khwarizmi, link to The Mathematical Legacy of Islam by Keith Devlin (July/August, 2002)

Robert of Chester's Latin Translation of the Algebra of al-Khowarizmi (completed in the year 1145)


Link to Arabic Mathematicians: Forgotten Brilliance? from the University of St. Andrews


Arab Contributions from Texas A&M University



Origin of the Word Algebra. It is a Latin variant of the Arabic word al-jabr
Algebra was also used non-mathematically in Alegbrista to mean bonesetter. Barbers in medieval times did bone-setting and bloodletting, hence the red and white stripes of barber poles.


The House of Wisdom
The House of Wisdom

House of Wisdom from American Museum of Natural History


The House of Wisdom: Baghdad's Intellectual Powerhouse from 1001 Inventions



Al-Battani
Al-Battani

Screen Shot 2016-01-04 at 11.35.30 AM.pngAl-Battani (850-929)


Considered the Father of Trigonometry










Hindu-Arabic Numbers

Numeral figures used in the Bakhshali manuscript; discovered 1881
Numeral figures used in the Bakhshali manuscript; discovered 1881


The Arab Number System

Arabic-Hindu Numerals and the Development of Modern Mathematics


Muslim Scientists


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Abbas ibn Firnas
Inventor, Engineer, Poet
Attempted to fly using hand-made wings in 875; what the Wright Brothers would also attempt to do centuries later
A crater on the moon and the airport in Baghdad are named in his honor

A Medieval First in Flight: Visualizing Abbas Ibn Firnas and the Art of Early Aviation











Screen Shot 2016-04-13 at 3.13.34 PM.pngGo to World History I.5 for more on Islamic contributions to math, science and architecture