Iran
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Ulugh Beg (Mirza Muhammad Taraghay)
Sultaniya, Iran
Archival Overview
Timurid ruler and astronomer who constructed the colossal Samarkand Observatory with its 40-meter meridian sextant, producing the Zij-i Sultani star catalog of 1,018 stars.
Biographical Record
Mirza Muhammad Taraghay, known to history as Ulugh Beg (1394–1449 CE), grandson of the conqueror Tamerlane, turned Samarkand into the intellectual capital of the Islamic world. Transforming his court into an academy of mathematicians, he constructed the monumental Samarkand Observatory in 1424.
The observatory featured a subterranean trench holding a colossal 40-meter radius marble sextant, allowing unprecedented naked-eye measurement accuracy to within fractions of an arcminute. In 1437, he completed the Zij-i Sultani, charting 1,018 stars and calculating the sidereal year as 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, and 8 seconds (an error of only 58 seconds from modern measurements).
Key Life Milestones
Construction of the Samarkand Observatory
Constructed the monumental three-story observatory featuring a 40-meter marble meridian sextant.
Publication of the 'Zij-i Sultani' Star Catalog
Completed the premier star catalog of the post-classical era, charting the positions of 1,018 stars.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialSamarkand, Uzbekistan