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Michael Scot

مايكل سكوت

Notable figure d. c. 1235 · Source: Lorenzo Minio-Paluello, Michael Scot, Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Encyclopedia.com · Second source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, authority record: Michel Scot (11..-1235?)

From the United Kingdom; worked in Spain and Italy

Field: Translation

Affiliation

Latin translator of al-Bitruji and the books on animals

Biography

His name points to Scotland, or perhaps Ireland, and his birthplace is not established. At Toledo, probably in 1217, he finished a translation of al-Bitruji's astronomy from the Arabic with the help of Abuteus Levita, a Jewish convert; how the work was shared is unknown, and Scot may then have had only some Arabic. He translated Aristotle's books on animals, then Avicenna's work on them, dedicated to Frederick II, whose astrologer he is called. Of the Averroes attributed to him, the Great Commentary on De caelo is the surest.