Ibn al-Haytham

ابن الهيثم (Known as "Alhazen")

Father of Modern Optics, Physicist, Mathematician, Astronomer

Born c. 965 CE

Basra, Iraq

Passed Away 1040 CE Cairo, Egypt

Lifespan 75 years old

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Notice / Correction

"The duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists is to make himself an enemy of all that he reads, testing everything with proof and reason."

Archival Overview

Pioneering polymath revered as the 'father of modern optics' and architect of the modern scientific method, who composed his revolutionary Book of Optics near Al-Azhar in Fatimid Cairo.

Biographical Record

Summoned to Cairo by Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim to regulate the flooding of the Nile, Hasan Ibn al-Haytham realized the technical impossibility of the project with contemporary means. Feigning madness to escape execution, he was confined to quarters near Al-Azhar Mosque for a decade.

In isolation, he conducted groundbreaking experiments with camera obscura, lenses, and mirrors, proving that vision occurs when light rays enter the eye rather than emanate from it. His Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) founded modern physics, establishing systematic empirical testing as the cornerstone of scientific truth.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

Bab an-Nasr Scholars Cemetery
Cairo, Egypt

                         GPS: 30.0543, 31.2635                    

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