- Al-Battani, Abu Allah Mohammed ibn Jabir (850-928) -
also known as Albategniuis, showed that the distance from the
Earth to the Sun changes during the year. Using methods of Ptolemy,
he created astronomical tables of the positions of the stars,
adjusted for precession and calculated a length of the solar year.
- Al-Biruni, Abu ar-Rayhan Mohammed ibn Ahmad (973-1048)
- completed extensive studies of equinoxes and latitudes.
- Al-Farghani, Muhammed ibn Ketir (d. 840) - also known
as Alfraganus, is best known for Elements of Astronomy,
a book which examines the work of Ptolemy and influenced European
astronomers for centuries.
- Al-Khayyami, Ghiyath al-Din Abu'l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim al-Nisburi
(1048-1131) - also known as Omar Khayyam, he was a legendary writer
along with being an astronomer. He compiled astronomical tables
and helped complete calendar reform. He also calculated one of
the most accurate measurements of the length of the year.
- Al-Khujandi, Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn al-Khidr (940-1000)
- using one of the largest mural sextants of his time, he attempted
to calculate the obliquity of the ecliptic from observations taken
of a series of meridian transits of the Sun during the solstices.
- Al-Khwarizmi, Abu Jafar Mohammed ibn Musa (780-850)
- creator of algebra and the oldest surviving Arabic astronomical
tables. He also introduced the Indian style of numbers into Arabic
culture replacing the Bedouin and Greek numbers in use.
- Al-Sufi - created a book on astronomy where he adjusts
their positions relative to those stated by Ptolemy by 12 degrees.
Also included in the book were magnitudes of the stars.
- Al-Zaraqala, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yahya (1029-1087)
- also known as Alzachel, he published the Toledo Tables
of astronomical data taken in Spain, within the tables are descriptions
of the instruments used including the astrolabe.
- Anaxagoras (c. 500-428 B.C.) - Greek philosopher/scientist.
He was the first to clearly state that the moon shines by reflected
light and lunar eclipses occur when the Earth blocks the sunlight.
- Anaximander (611-546 BC) - Greek philosopher/scientist
believed that a cylindrical Earth floated free in space, and the
Sun, Moon, and stars are hollow, fiery wheels.
- Anaximenes (570-500 BC) - the first Greek philosopher
to clearly distinguish the differences between stars and planets.
- Archimedes (287-212 BC) - Greek scientist whose astronomical
influence includes an attempt to calculate the size of the universe
by using the studies of Aristarchus. In his work The Sand-Reckoner
he estimates the size of the universe to be 100 million Earth-diameters.
- Aristarchus (c. 310-230 BC) - Greek astronomer who was
the first to propose the heliocentric theory, that the earth and
other planets orbited the sun.
- Aristotle (384-322 BC) - Greek philosopher who wrote
about many subjects. In astronomy he agreed with the views of
Plato and Eudoxas, but increased the number of spheres surrounding
the earth to 54. He also believed that the world was round. His
views on science and logic became preeminent in Europe during
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
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