User:Neymarjunior114/sandbox


 * Al-Biruni was born on 5th September 973 CE at Khwarazm in Uzbekistan, and his full name was “Abu Rayhan Muhammad Ibn Ahmed Al-Biruni
 * He was a polymath,astronomer, mathematician and geographer who measured the circumference of Earth.
 * At age 25, in the year 995, he left his homeland and went to Bukhara. (Which is now south-central Uzbekistan, located about 140 miles west of Samarkand) This city was known as the center of knowledge of the world. He stayed there for three years and got an education. He came in contact with Ibn Sina and exchanged views with him on various subjects. Later, in 998 AD, he moved to Tabaristan in Iran where he wrote his first book, “The Remaining Traces of Past Centuries”.
 * Al-biruni and Ibn Sina often argued. The arguments between Ibn Sina and al-Biruni are important because they show that Ibn Sina was not a lone ranger in a location bereft of science. Instead he was a part of a much larger scientific movement in the Islamic world.
 * At the age forty-four in 1017 AD, Al-Biruni joined the court of Mahmud Ghaznavi, where he was appointed as an advisor, and worked on the study of planetary bodies. After serving for thirteen years, Ghaznavi sent him to India in 1030 AD. Al-Biruni became aware of Indian life. He wrote a book on Indian history and culture known as “The History of India”.
 * He stated that the Earth rotated around its own axis, calculating the earth's circumference and fixed scientifically the direction of Mecca from any point of the globe.
 * He used trigonometry to calculate the radius of the Earth using measurements of the height of a hill and measurement of the dip in the horizon from the top of that hill.
 * Al-Biruni discovered the mathematical methods to find the distance between the Sun, Earth, and Moon with the help of old astrolabes. This way he laid the foundation of knowing planetary distances.Also, he precisely measured the radius of the Earth to be 6,339.9 km which is 99.5% accurate.
 * Al-Biruni has described new methods and refined the existing work on trigonometry in his treatise on trigonometry. Also, he worked on the solutions of quadratic and cubic equations.
 * He developed experimental methods to determine density, using a particular type of hydrostatic balance. Al-Biruni's method of using the hydrostatic balance was precise, and he was able to measure the density of many different substances, including precious metals, gems, and even air.
 * Al-Biruni’s work on physics is very remarkable. He wrote on the properties of materials and mechanics. He described the concept of inertia and gravitational force. Also, he invented a device that helped him determine the specific gravity of many elements and compounds.
 * He also wrote about 150 words, including 35 treatises on pure astronomy but only six astronomical writings have survived to this day
 * He was interested in everything and sometimes he is referred to Leonardo da Vinci of his day
 * Al-Biruni wrote in his book, The Book of the Demarcation of the Limits of the Area that, “Islam has already penetrated from the Eastern countries of the earth to the western. It spreads westwards to Spain, eastward to the borderland of china and to the middle of India, southward to Abyssinia and the countries of Zanj Zanj from Mali to Kilwa and Mauritania to Ghana, eastward to the Malay Archipelago and Java, and northward to the countries of the Turks and Slavs. Thus the different people are brought together in mutual understanding, which only gods own art can bring us to pass”
 * He described the eclipse of May 24, 997, while he was at Kath, in today's Bagdad.
 * The event was also visible in Baghdad and he arranged with Abu al-Wafa al-Bujanzi, a fellow astronomer, that the latter would observe it there.
 * When they compared their timings they were able to calculate the difference in longitude between the two cities
 * In the 11th century, Al-Biruni wrote one of the most valuable works in the field called “The Book of Pharmacology”, giving detailed knowledge of the properties of drugs, and outlining the role of the pharmacy and the functions and duties of the pharmacist
 * “We must clear our minds… from all causes that blind people to the truth-old custom of party spirit, personal rivalry, passion, the desire for influence.”-Al-Biruni
 * Al-Biruni spent a lot of his time in India, where he learned the language and studied the people,religion, and places.
 * He wrote a book called “Chronicles of India”
 * As well as speaking Hindi, he also knew Greek, Sanskrit and Syriac, although he wrote all his books in Persian and Arabic.
 * In India, he looked intently at its natural history and geology, and he correctly described the sedimentary nature of the Ganges Basin
 * His great mineralogical work was called Treatises on How to Recognize Gems, and it made him a leading scientist in this area
 * Al-Biruni was said to have a touch of dry humor: “Here is another method for the determination of the circumference of the Earth. It does not require walking in deserts”
 * Len Berggren, a contemporary writer, said “It doubtless gladdened al-biruni's heart to show that a simple mathematical argument combined with a measurement could do as well as two teams of surveyors trampling about in the desert.
 * He calculated the figure by using a highly complex geodesic equation and wrote it all up in his book, “On the determination of the Coordinates of Cities”
 * Al-Biruni's book also made a systematic and detailed study of the measurements of the Earth’s surface.
 * He measured latitudes and longitudes and the roundness of the Earth.
 * He was a man genuinely ahead of his time and even discussed the theory of the Earth rotating about its own axis 600 years before Galileo
 * Al-Biruni also explained that the increase and decrease in the height of the ebbs of tides occurred in cycles on the basis of changes in the phases of the moon.
 * He gave a very vivid description of the tide at Somnath,a city in India, and traced it to the moon
 * He earned fame due to his research on India and wrote notes on its culture and people. Besides, he learned Sanskrit to understand their scriptures. Due to his contribution, he was given the title of ‘the Founder of Indology’.
 * Due to his intelligence, Al-Biruni not only remained close to the rulers, but he even helped settle disputes between tribes and also worked for them on scientific and religious matters.
 * Al-Biruni also described the geography of India in his work. He documented different bodies of water and other natural phenomena. These descriptions are useful to today's modern historians because they are able to use Biruni's scholarship to locate certain destinations in modern-day India.
 * As he traveled to Central and South Asia, he studied people’s customs and cultures. After his long research life, he died at the age of 77 years in the year 1050 in Ghazni, Afghanistan'