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11.
Abdurrahman Sufi
(291-376H/ 903-986AD)
Abu
al-Hassan Abd al-Rahman Ibn Amr Ibn Sahl Al-Sufi ar-Razi was
born in Ray. He was one of the greatest astronomers and
astrologers. In the words of the historian George
Sarton(72), he was one of the most eminent astronomer of
Islam. He was friend with the caliph al-Bouihi Adud Adawla,
who made of him his private astrologer and teacher to learn
about the positions of static stars and their motions.
Scientific Contributions
Sufi made
significant contributions to astronomy which can be summed
in the following accomplishments : He observed the stars,
counted them and determined their celestial latitudes and
longitudes. His observations allowed him to discover new
stationary stars that had never been observed before. He
drew the map of the sky, in which he listed the positions of
the stationary stars, their magnitudes and the brightness of
each of them. He developed an atlas of the stars to correct
the mistakes of his predecessors(73). Europeans acknowledged
the accuracy of his astronomical observations; Aldo Milli
described him as "one of the most eminent Arab astronomers
to whom we owe a series of accurate direct observations". He
further stated : "This great astronomer not only located
several of the stars that were unknown to Ptolemy, but he
also corrected some of his mistaken observations(74). He
enabled thus the future astronomers to recognize the planets
for which the Greek astronomer gave inaccurate
positions(75).
Major
Works
- "Kitab
al-Kawatib al-Thabita" (Book of the Stationary Planets) is
considered by Sarton as one of the three major books which
were famous among Muslim astronomers. The other two books
are Ibn Yunus's and Ulugh Beg's. This book contained colored
drawings of constellations and celestial pictures.
- "Risalat
al-Amal bil Usturlab" (Treatise on the Use of Astrolabe);
- "Kitab
Tadkira";
- "Kitab
Matarih Chua'at";
- "Kitab
al-Urjuza fi al-Kawakib Tabita".
Copies of some of these works are kept in libraries in a
number of countries, such as El Escorial library in Madrid,
Paris and Oxford(76).
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