Born in Basra in 965, Ibn al-Haytham was the first person to test hypotheses with verifiable experiments, developing the modern scientific method more than two hundred years before European scholars learned of it—by reading his books.
To test his hypothesis that “lights and colors do not blend in the air,” for example, Ibn al-Haytham devised the world’s first camera obscura, observed what happened when light rays intersected at its aperture, and recorded the results in what would become Kitab al Manazir (Book of Optics). Ibn al-Haytham conducted this and other experiments investigating the properties of light during a ten-year period when he was stripped of his possessions and imprisoned as a madman in Cairo.
How Ibn al-Haytham came to be in Egypt, why he was judged insane, and how his discoveries launched the scientific revolution are just some of the questions answered in Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, the world’s first biography of the Muslim scholar known in the West as Alhazen or Alhacen.
Abdul Jabbar Al-Shammari, the director of the Ibn al-Haitham Center for Science and Technology in Amman, Jordan, writes: “I enjoyed reading about the events in the life of our scientist, Ibn al-Haitham. I congratulate you on writing a fantastic and accurate book.”
E. Salik of Los Angeles writes: “I recently read Steffens’ book on Ibn al-Haytham. This is one of the best books I have ever read. His comments on historical data are commended.”
Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist by award-winning author Bradley Steffens can be yours for just US $20.96. You save 25% off the cover price of $27.95. Click here to order.
Via Communication posted at Link between Science and Religion Blog
Related Institute of Ismaili Studies Articles:
From Ibn Sina to Tusi: The Scientific Tradition in Medieval Islam
Ibn al-Haytham or Alhazen by Dr Nader El-Bizri
Beauty and Islam: Aesthetics in Islamic Art and Architecture
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