Alhazen
Claimed and Written by Ananth Somasundaram for PHYS2211
Alhazen was an Arab physicist, mathematiician, and astronomer who resided in Basra, Cairo. Alhazen had significant contributions in the fields of optics, astronomy, mathematics, meteorology, visual perception and the scientific method. He is considered to be the first theoretical physicist. Alhazen also was the earliest to discover that a hypothesis has the requirement to be experimented through trailed procedures or mathematical evidence.
Early Life
Alhazen was born in 965 CE in Basra, Buyid Emirate and passed away at the age of 75 in 1040 CE in Cairo, Egypt. He was born to an Arab family and moved to Cairo at an early age. When he moved to Cairo, it was under the rule of Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim. Alhazen pitched a hydraulic project to improve regulation of the flooding of the Nile. After pitching the idea, Alhazen realized the impracticality of his plan. There is no concrete proof, but it has been told that the Caliph was upset at Alhazen for the failed plan and placed him under house arrest till the Caliphs death in 1040. During the house arrest, Alhazen wrote his famous Book Of Optics.
Alhazen had significant contributions in the fields of optics, astronomy, mathematics, meteorology, visual perception and the scientific method as mentioned earlier. He made the correlation that the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant. He also researched the magnifying power of the lens. Alhazens work significantly impacted other scientists of his time and future. His book of optics debuted many scientific facts which would be used later in the scientific world. Although Alhazen wrote as many as 200 books, as many as 55 have survived.
Book Of Optics
See also
YouTube Video regarding the beginning of quantum mechanics
Further reading
HyperPhysics: Black-Body Radiation
References
External links
http://www.famousscientists.org/max-planck/
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1918/planck-bio.html