Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi

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Photo taken from medieval manuscript by Qotbeddin Shirazi. The image depicts an epicyclic planetary model.

Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236–1311) was a 13th century Persian scientist from Shiraz, Iran.

He and his master Nasir al-Din Tusi wrote critiques of the Almagest of Ptolemy. He also continued the optical studies of Alhazen. It was Qutb al Din who first gave a correct explanation for the formation of the rainbow.

He produced two prominent works on astronomy - The Limit of Accomplishment concerning Knowledge of the Heavens (Nihayat al-idrak fi dirayat al-aflak) completed in 1281, and The Royal Present (Al-Tuhfat al-Shahiya) completed in 1284. Both presented his models for planetary motion, improving on Ptolemy's principles. Kennedy, E. S. - Late Medieval Planetary Theory, Isis, Vol. 57, No. 3. (Autumn, 1966), pp. 365-378., The University of Chicago Press

Besides astronomy he wrote extensively on medicine, mathematics and "traditional" Islamic sciences.

Qutb al-Din was also a Sufi from a family of Sufis in Shiraz. He is famous for the commentary on Hikmat al-ishraq of Suhrawardi, the most influential work of Islamic Illuminist philosophy. Qutb al-Din Shirazi's most famous work is the Pearly Crown (Durrat al-taj li-ghurratt al-Dubaj), written in Persian around 1306 (705 AH).

See also

• List of Iranian scientists

Refrences