A Little Known Paper by Professor Fuat Sezgin on the Meridian Instrument of Ibn al-Haytham
Publication date
2023-03-24
Authors
Hogendijk, Jan
Editors
Cüneyt Kaya, Mehmet
Özdemir, Nihal
Aksoy, Gürsel
Advisors
Supervisors
Document Type
Part of book
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Abstract
When Fuat Sezgin came to Istanbul in 1943, he became a student of mathematics and engineering, only changing to Oriental Studies after meeting Hellmut Ritter. We will analyze a paper which Fuat Sezgin published in 1986 and which is a witness of his mathematical abilities. The paper includes an edition of a mathematically difficult text by Ibn al-Haytham which Sezgin reconstructed from a unique Arabic manuscript written with very few diacritical marks. In this treatise, Ibn al-Haytham discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of an instrument which he produced for determining the meridian with utmost accuracy.
Keywords
Fuat Sezgin, Ibn al-Haytham, meridian, astronomy, astronomical instrument
Citation
Hogendijk, J 2023, A Little Known Paper by Professor Fuat Sezgin on the Meridian Instrument of Ibn al-Haytham. in M Cüneyt Kaya, N Özdemir & G Aksoy (eds), The second international Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin Symposium on History of Science in Islam Proceedings Book : 7-9 October 2021. Istanbul University Press, Istanbul, pp. 139-146. https://doi.org/10.26650/PB/AA08.2023.002.009