Biruni

Abu ar-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, born September 973 A.D., Khwarezm, Khorasan died December 13, 1048 A.D., Ghazna, Biruni was a versatile scholar and scientist who had equal facility in physics, metaphysics, mathematics, geography and history. He was a contemporary of the well-known physician Ibn Sina. At an early age, the fame of his scholarship went around and when Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi conquered his homeland, he took Biruni along with him in his journeys to India several times and thus he had the opportunity to travel all over India during a period of 20 years. He learnt Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from the Pandits to whom he taught Greek and Arabic science and philosophy.

He died in 1048 A.D. at the age of 75, after having spent 40 years in gathering knowledge and making his own original contributions to it. He recorded observations of his travels through India in his well-known book Kitab al-Hind. On his return from India, Biruni wrote his famous book Qanun-I Masoodi (al-Qanun al-Masudi, fi al-Hai'a wa al-Nujum), which he dedicated to Sultan Masood. The book discusses several theories of astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary motions and related topics. In another well-known book al-Athar al-Baqia, he attempted a connected account of the ancient history of nations and related geographical knowledge. In this book, he discussed the rotation of the earth and gave correct values of latitudes and longitudes of various places.

In Geometry, he developed methods for trisecting an angle and resolving  other problems which cannot be solved with a ruler and a compass alone. Biruni discussed, centuries before the rest of the world, the question whether the earth rotates around its axis or not. He was the first to undertake experiments related to astronomical phenomena. His enthusiasm for knowledge may be judged from his claim that the phrase Allah is Omniscient does not justify ignorance.