Ibn al-Haytham 965 – 1040
Abu Ali al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, known to the Latin West as Alhazen, was an Arab mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher and one of the greatest scientific minds of the medieval world. His seven-volume Book of Optics established a new theory of vision and a methodology for natural inquiry grounded in systematic experimentation, anticipating central themes of the early modern scientific revolution. He worked principally in Cairo under the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim. The book's translation into Latin shaped Roger Bacon, Witelo, and Kepler, and its method of controlled experiment remains a touchstone of scientific philosophy.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Arab
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Islamic, Medieval
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Ibn al-Haytham:
“Truth is sought for its own sake.”
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Attributed to Ibn al-Haytham:
“The duty of any man who studies the writings of scientists is to be the enemy of all that he reads, attacking it from every side.”
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Attributed to Ibn al-Haytham:
“He who seeks truth makes himself the enemy of authority.”
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Attributed to Ibn al-Haytham:
“Vision occurs when light from objects enters the eye.”
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Attributed to Ibn al-Haytham:
“Reason and experiment together are the only ways to certain knowledge.”