Arabic in the Sciences
On Dawn and Twilight
في الفجر والشفق
The treatise of Ibn Mu'adh, judge of Jaén in al-Andalus – an "11th-century Spanish Arab", in the words of the American historian of science A. Mark Smith – used the first light of dawn to estimate the height of the atmosphere at about 52 miles. Its Latin version was printed as Alhazen's until the Egyptian historian A. I. Sabra restored it to its author in 1967.
- Author
- Ibn Mu'adh al-Jayyani (d. after 1079)
- Field
- Astronomy
- Arabic title
- مقالة في الفجر والشفق
- Latin title
- Liber de crepusculis (De crepusculis et nubium ascensionibus)
Europe knew it under a name not its author's.
Internet Archive · Public Domain Mark
Click a card to see it full size; each has a download button for sharing.
Sources
- A. Mark Smith, «The Latin Version of Ibn Muʿādh's Treatise "On Twilight and the Rising of Clouds"», Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 2 (1992) 83–132
- Maravillas Aguiar Aguilar, «Enlazando dos lenguas…», MEAH, Sección Árabe-Islam 68 (2019) 13–26
- Emilia Calvo, «Ibn Muʿādh», Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (2007)
- موسوعة تاريخ العلوم العربية، إشراف رشدي راشد: ج١ ص٣٤٤ وص٣٧٧–٣٧٩، وج٢ ص٩١٤
Spotted a mistake, or have something to add?
Your note comes to us only; it is not published here. We read it, and if it holds we correct the card.
