Ibrahim ibn al-Zarqali of Morocco

Al-Zarqali (known to Western science as Arzachel) was the greatest observational astronomer and instrument maker of the eleventh century. He invented the revolutionary 'Safiha' (universal astrolabe plate), which could calculate celestial coordinates at any latitude on Earth without needing separate plates.

Al-Zarqali's planetary models and astronomical treatises were translated into Latin and became the foundational texts of European Renaissance astronomy, directly cited by Nicolaus Copernicus. His instruments and clock mechanisms inspired the monumental water clocks of the Bou Inania Madrasa in Fez.