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Ibn al-Haytham

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(Arabic: أبو علي الحسن بن الحسن بن الهيثم, Latinized: Alhacen or (deprecated) Alhazen) (965 – 1039), was an Arab or Persian Muslim polymath who made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to anatomy, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, medicine, ophthalmology, philosophy, physics, psychology, Ash'ari theology, visual perception, and to science in general with his introduction of the scientific method. He is sometimes called al-Basri (Arabic: البصري), after his birthplace in the city of Basra in Iraq (Mesopotamia), then ruled by the Buyid dynasty of Persia.

Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as the father of optics for his influential Book of Optics, which correctly explained and proved the modern intromission theory of vision, and for his experiments on optics, including experiments on lenses, mirrors, refraction, reflection, and the dispersion of light into its constituent colours. He studied binocular vision and the moon illusion, speculated on the finite speed, and rectilinear propagation of light, and argued for the corpuscular theory. Due to his formulation of a modern quantitative, empirical and experimental approach to physics and science, he is considered the pioneer of the modern scientific method and the originator of experimental science and experimental physics, and some have described him as the "first scientist" for these reasons. He is also considered by some to be the founder of experimental psychology for his experimental approach to the psychology of visual perception and optical illusions, and a pioneer of the philosophical field of phenomenology. His Book of Optics has been ranked alongside Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica as one of the most influential books in the history of physics, for initiating a revolution in optics and visual perception.

Among his other achievements, Ibn al-Haytham gave the first clear description and correct analysis of the camera obscura, discovered Fermat's principle of least time and the law of inertia (known as Newton's first law of motion), discovered the concept of momentum (part of Newton's second law of motion), described the attraction between masses and was aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity at a distance, discovered that the heavenly bodies were accountable to the laws of physics, presented a critique and reform of Ptolemaic astronomy, first stated Wilson's theorem in number theory, formulated and solved Alhazen's problem geometrically using early ideas related to calculus and mathematical induction, and in his optical research laid the foundations for the later development of telescopic astronomy, as well as for the microscope and the use of optical aids in Renaissance art.

Overview

Biography

Abū ‘Alī al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham was born in the Arab city of Basra, Iraq (Mesopotamia), then part of the Buyid dynasty of Persia, and he probably died in Cairo, Egypt. Known in the West as Alhacen or Alhazen, Ibn al-Haytham was born in 965 in Basra, and was educated there and in Baghdad.

One account of his career has him summoned to Egypt by the mercurial caliph Hakim to regulate the flooding of the Nile. After his field work made him aware of the impracticality of this scheme, and fearing the caliph's anger, he feigned madness. He was kept under house arrest until Hakim's death in 1021. During this time, he wrote his influential Book of Optics and scores of other important treatises on physics and mathematics. He later traveled to Spain and, during this period, he had ample time for his scientific pursuits, which included optics, mathematics, physics, medicine, and the development of scientific methods — on all of which he has left several outstanding books.

Works

Ibn al-Haytham was a pioneer in optics, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, physics, and psychology. His optical writings influenced many Western intellectuals such as Roger Bacon, John Pecham, Witelo, Johannes Kepler. His pioneering work on number theory, analytic geometry, and the link between algebra and geometry, also had an influence on René Descartes's geometric analysis and Isaac Newton's calculus.

According to medieval biographers, Ibn al-Haytham wrote more than 200 works on a wide range of subjects, of which at least 96 of his scientific works are known. Most of his works are now lost, but more than 50 of them have survived to some extent. Nearly half of his surviving works are on mathematics, 23 of them are on astronomy, and 14 of them are on optics, with a few on other areas of science. Not all of his surviving works have yet been studied, but some of his most important ones are described below. These include:

  • Book of Optics (1021)
  • Analysis and Synthesis
  • Balance of Wisdom
  • Discourse on Place
  • Maqala fi'l-qarastun
  • Doubts Concerning Ptolemy (1028)
  • On the Configuration of the World
  • Opuscula
  • The Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets (1038)
  • The Resolution of Doubts
  • Treatise on Light
  • Treatise on Place

Legacy

Ibn al-Haytham was one of the most eminent physicists, whose developments in optics and the scientific method were particularly outstanding. Ibn al-Haytham's work on optics is credited with contributing a new emphasis on experiment. His influence on physical sciences in general, and on optics in particular, has been held in high esteem and, in fact, ushered in a new era in optical research, both in theory and practice. The scientific method is considered to be so fundamental to modern science that some — especially philosophers of science and practicing scientists — consider earlier inquiries into nature to be pre-scientific.

Due to its importance in the history of science, some have considered his development of the scientific method to be the most important scientific development of the second millennium. Nobel Prize winning physicist Abdus Salam considered Ibn-al-Haitham "one of the greatest physicists of all time." George Sarton, the father of the history of science, wrote that "Ibn Haytham's writings reveal his fine development of the experimental faculty" and considered him "not only the greatest Muslim physicist, but by all means the greatest of mediaeval times. Robert S. Elliot considered Ibn al-Haytham to be "one of the ablest students of optics of all times. The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists wrote that Ibn al-Haytham was "probably the greatest scientist of the Middle Ages" and that "his work remained unsurpassed for nearly 600 years until the time of Johannes Kepler.

The Latin translation of his main work, Kitab al-Manazir, exerted a great influence upon Western science: for example, on the work of Roger Bacon, who cites him by name, and on Kepler. It brought about a great progress in experimental methods. His research in catoptrics centered on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration. He made the important observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant, and investigated the magnifying power of a lens. His work on catoptrics also contains the important problem known as Alhazen's problem.

The list of his books runs to 200 or so, yet very few of the books have survived. Even his monumental treatise on optics survived only through its Latin translation. During the Middle Ages his books on cosmology were translated into Latin, Hebrew and other languages.

The Alhazen crater on the Moon was named in his honour. Ibn al-Haytham is also featured on the obverse of the Iraqi 10,000 dinars banknote issued in 2003. The asteroid "59239 Alhazen" was also named in his honour, while Iran's largest laser research facility, located in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran headquarters in Tehran, is named after him as well.

Book of Optics

Ibn al-Haytham's most famous work is his seven volume treatise on optics, Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) (written from 1011 to 1021), which has been ranked alongside Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica as one of the most influential books in physics, for introducing an early scientific method and for initiating a revolution in optics and visual perception.

Optics was translated into Latin by an unknown scholar at the end of the 12th century or the beginning of the 13th century. It was printed by Friedrich Risner in 1572, with the title Opticae thesaurus: Alhazeni Arabis libri septem, nuncprimum editi; Eiusdem liber De Crepusculis et nubium ascensionibus. Risner is also the author of the name variant "Alhazen"; before Risner he was known in the west as Alhacen, which is the correct transcription of the Arabic name. This work enjoyed a great reputation during the Middle Ages. Works by Alhacen on geometrical subjects were discovered in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris in 1834 by E. A. Sedillot. Other manuscripts are preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and in the library of Leiden. Ibn al-Haytham's optical studies were influential in a number of later developments, including the telescope, which laid the foundations of telescopic astronomy, as well as of the modern camera, the microscope, and the use of optical aids in Renaissance art.

Optics

In classical antiquity, there were two major theories on vision. The first theory, the emission theory, was supported by such thinkers as Euclid and Ptolemy, who believed that sight worked by the eye emitting rays of light. The second theory, the intromission theory, supported by Aristotle and his followers, had physical forms entering the eye from an object. Ibn al-Haytham argued on the basis of common observations (such as the eye being dazzled or even injured if we look at a very bright light) and logical arguments (such as how a ray could proceeding from the eyes reach the distant stars the instant after we open our eye) to maintain that we cannot see by rays being emitted from the eye, nor through physical forms entering the eye. He instead developed a highly successful theory which explained the process of vision as rays of light proceeding to the eye from each point on an object, which he proved through the use of experimentation.

Ibn al-Haytham proved that rays of light travel in straight lines, and carried out a number of experiments with lenses, mirrors, refraction, and reflection. He was also the first to reduce reflected and refracted light rays into vertical and horizontal components, which was a fundamental development in geometric optics. He also discovered a result similar to Snell's law of sines, but did not quantify it and derive the law mathematically. Ibn al-Haytham also gave the first clear description and correct analysis of the camera obscura, though the underlying principles of the camera oscura or pinhole camera were earlier known to Mozi and Aristotle.

Scientific method

Rosanna Gorini notes that "according to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method." Ibn al-Haytham developed rigorous experimental methods of controlled scientific testing in order to verify theoretical hypotheses and substantiate inductive conjectures. Ibn al-Haytham's scientific method was very similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of the following procedures:

  1. Observation
  2. Statement of problem
  3. Formulation of hypothesis
  4. Testing of hypothesis using experimentation
  5. Analysis of experimental results
  6. Interpretation of data and formulation of conclusion
  7. Publication of findings

Alhazen's problem

His work on catoptrics in Book V of the Book of Optics contains the important problem known as Alhazen's problem. It comprises drawing lines from two points in the plane of a circle meeting at a point on the circumference and making equal angles with the normal at that point. This leads to an equation of the fourth degree. This eventually led Ibn al-Haytham to derive the earliest formula for the sum of fourth powers; and by using an early proof by mathematical induction, he developed a method that is readily generalizable to finding the formula for the sum of any integral powers. This was fundamental to the development of infinitesimal and integral calculus. Ibn al-Haytham eventually solved the problem using conic sections and a geometric proof, though many after him attempted to find an algebraic solution to the problem, until the end of the 20th century.

Hockney-Falco thesis

At a scientific conference in February 2007, Charles M. Falco argued that Ibn al-Haytham's work on optics may have influenced the use of optical aids by Renaissance artists. Falco said that his and David Hockney's examples of Renaissance art "demonstrate a continuum in the use of optics by artists from circa 1430, arguably initiated as a result of Ibn al-Haytham's influence, until today.

Other contributions

Chapters 15–16 of the Book of Optics dealt with astronomy. Ibn al-Haytham was the first to discover that the celestial spheres do not consist of solid matter, and he also discovered that the heavens are less dense than the air. These views were later repeated by Witelo and had a significant influence on the Copernican and Tychonic systems of astronomy.

Ibn al-Haytham discussed the topics of medicine, ophthalmology and eye surgery in the anatomical and physiological portions of the Book of Optics and in his commentaries on Galenic works. He also made several improvements to eye surgery and described the process of sight.

In philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham is considered a pioneer of phenomenology. He articulated a relationship between the physical and observable world and that of intuition, psychology and mental functions. His theories regarding knowledge and perception, linking the domains of science and religion, led to a philosophy of existence based on the direct observation of reality from the observer's point of view.

In Islamic psychology, Ibn al-Haytham is considered the founder of experimental psychology, for his pioneering work on the psychology of visual perception and optical illusions. In the Book of Optics, Ibn al-Haytham was the first scientist to argue that vision occurs in the brain, rather than the eyes. He pointed out that personal experience has an effect on what people see and how they see, and that vision and perception are subjective.

Other works on physics

Optical treatises

Besides the Book of Optics, Ibn al-Haytham wrote a number of other treatises on optics. His Risala fi l-Daw’ (Treatise on Light) is a supplement to his Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics). The text contained further investigations on the properties of luminance and its radiant dispersion through various transparent and translucent media. He also carried out further observations, investigations and examinations on the anatomy of the eye, the camera obscura and pinhole camera, illusions in visual perception, the meteorology of the rainbow and the density of the atmosphere, various celestial phenomena (including the eclipse, twilight, and moonlight), refraction, catoptrics, dioptrics, spherical and parabolic mirrors, and magnifying lenses.

In his treatise, Mizan al-Hikmah (Balance of Wisdom), Ibn al-Haytham discussed the density of the atmosphere and related it to altitude. He also studied atmospheric refraction. He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the Sun is 19° below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis.

Astrophysics

In astrophysics and the celestial mechanics field of physics, Ibn al-Haytham, in his Epitome of Astronomy, discovered that the heavenly bodies "were accountable to the laws of physics".

Ibn al-Haytham's Mizan al-Hikmah (Balance of Wisdom) dealt with statics, astrophysics, and celestial mechanics. He discussed the theory of attraction between masses, and it seems that he was also aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity at a distance.

His Maqala fi'l-qarastun is a treatise on centers of gravity. Little is currently known about the work, except for what is known through the later works of al-Khazini in the 12th century. In this treatise, Ibn al-Haytham formulated the theory that the heaviness of bodies varies with their distance from the center of the Earth.

Mechanics

In the dynamics and kinematics fields of mechanics, Ibn al-Haytham's Risala fi’l-makan (Treatise on Place) discussed theories on the motion of a body. He maintained that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This was a precursor to the law of inertia later stated by Galileo Galilei in the 16th century and now known as Newton's first law of motion.

Ibn al-Haytham also discovered the concept of momentum, part of Newton's second law of motion, around the same time as his contemporary, Avicenna.

Astronomical works

Doubts Concerning Ptolemy

In his Al-Shukūk ‛alā Batlamyūs, variously translated as Doubts Concerning Ptolemy or Aporias against Ptolemy, written between 1025 and 1028, Ibn al-Haytham criticized many of Ptolemy's works, including the Almagest, Planetary Hypotheses, and Optics, pointing out various contradictions he found in these works. He considered that some of the mathematical devices Ptolemy introduced into astronomy, especially the equant, failed to satisfy the physical requirement of uniform circular motion, and wrote a scathing critique of the physical reality of Ptolemy's astronomical system, noting the absurdity of relating actual physical motions to imaginary mathematical points, lines and circles:

Ibn al-Haytham further criticized Ptolemy's model on other empirical, observational and experimental grounds, such as Ptolemy's use of conjectural undemonstrated theories in order to "save appearances" of certain phenomena, which Ibn al-Haytham did not approve of due to his insistence on scientific demonstration. Unlike some later astronomers who criticized the Ptolemaic model on the grounds of being incompatible with Aristotelian natural philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham was mainly concerned with empirical observation and the internal contradictions in Ptolemy's works.

In his Aporias against Ptolemy, Ibn al-Haytham commented on the difficulty of attaining scientific knowledge:

He held that the criticism of existing theories — which dominated this book — holds a special place in the growth of scientific knowledge:

On the Configuration of the World

In his On the Configuration of the World, despite his criticisms directed towards Ptolemy, Ibn al-Haytham continued to accept the physical reality of the geocentric model of the universe, presenting a detailed description of the physical structure of the celestial spheres in his On the Configuration of the World:

While he attempted to discover the physical reality behind Ptolemy's mathematical model, he developed the concept of a single orb (falak) for each component of Ptolemy's planetary motions. This work was eventually translated into Hebrew and Latin in the 13th and 14th centuries and subsequently had an important influence during the European Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The Model of the Motions

Ibn al-Haytham's The Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets, written in 1038, was an important book on astronomy. The surviving manuscript of this work has only recently been discovered, with much of it still missing, hence the work has not yet been published in modern times. Following on from his Doubts on Ptolemy and The Resolution of Doubts, Ibn al-Haytham described the first non-Ptolemaic model in The Model of the Motions. His reform was not concerned with cosmology, as he developed a systematic study of celestial kinematics that was completely geometric. This in turn led to innovative developments in infinitesimal geometry.

His reformed empirical model was the first to reject the equant and eccentrics, separate natural philosophy from astronomy, free celestial kinematics from cosmology, and reduce physical entities to geometrical entities. The model also propounded the Earth's rotation about its axis, and the centres of motion were geometrical points without any physical significance, like Johannes Kepler's model centuries later.

In the text, Ibn al-Haytham also describes an early version of Occam's razor, where he employs only minimal hypotheses regarding the properties that characterize astronomical motions, as he attempts to eliminate from his planetary model the cosmological hypotheses that cannot be observed from the Earth.

Refutation of astrology

Ibn al-Haytham distinguished astrology from astronomy, and he refuted the study of astrology, due to the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical, and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with orthodox Islam.

Mathematical works

In mathematics, Ibn al-Haytham builds on the mathematical works of Euclid and Thabit ibn Qurra. He goes on to systemize conic sections and number theory, carries out some early work on analytic geometry, and works on "the beginnings of the link between algebra and geometry." This in turn had an influence on the development of René Descartes's geometric analysis and Isaac Newton's calculus.

Geometry

In geometry, Ibn al-Haytham developed analytical geometry and established a link between algebra and geometry. Ibn al-Haytham also discovered a formula for adding the first 100 natural numbers (which may later have been intuited by Carl Friedrich Gauss as a youth). Ibn al-Haytham used a geometric proof to prove the formula.

Ibn al-Haytham made the first attempt at proving the Euclidean parallel postulate using a proof by contradiction, where he introduced the concept of motion and transformation into geometry. His proof was also the first to employ the Lambert quadrilateral and Playfair's axiom, both of which were not known in Europe until the 18th century. Some have referred to the Lambert quadrilateral as the "Ibn al-Haytham–Lambert quadrilateral" as a result. His theorems on quadrilaterals, including the Lambert quadrilateral, were the first theorems on elliptical geometry and hyperbolic geometry, and along with his alternative postulates, such as Playfair's axiom, his work marked the beginning of non-Euclidean geometry and had a considerable influence on its development among later Muslim geometers such as Omar Khayyám and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī and European geometers such as Witelo, Gersonides, Alfonso, John Wallis and Giovanni Girolamo Saccheri.

In elementary geometry, Ibn al-Haytham attempted to solve the problem of squaring the circle using the area of lunes, but later gave up on the impossible task. Ibn al-Haytham also tackled other problems in elementary (Euclidean) and advanced (Apollonian and Archimedean) geometry, some of which he was the first to solve.

Number theory

His contributions to number theory includes his work on perfect numbers. In his Analysis and Synthesis, Ibn al-Haytham was the first to realize that every even perfect number is of the form 2n−1(2n − 1) where 2n − 1 is prime, but he was not able to prove this result successfully (Euler later proved it in the 18th century).

Ibn al-Haytham solved problems involving congruences using what is now called Wilson's theorem. In his Opuscula, Ibn al-Haytham considers the solution of a system of congruences, and gives two general methods of solution. His first method, the canonical method, involved Wilson's theorem, while his second method involved a version of the Chinese remainder theorem.

Other works

Engineering

In engineering, one account of his career as a civil engineer has him summoned to Egypt by the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah to regulate the flooding of the Nile River. He carried out a detailed scientific study of the annual inundation of the Nile River, and he drew plans for building a dam, at the site of the modern-day Aswan Dam. His field work, however, later made him aware of the impracticality of this scheme, and he soon feigned madness in order to avoid punishment from the Caliph.

According to al-Khazini, Ibn al-Haytham also wrote a treatise providing a description on the construction of a water clock.

Philosophy

In early Islamic philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham's Risala fi’l-makan (Treatise on Place) presents a critique of Aristotle's concept of place (topos). Aristotle's Physics stated that the place of something is the two-dimensional boundary of the containing body that is at rest and is in contact with what it contains. Ibn al-Haytham disagreed and demonstrated that place (al-makan) is the imagined three-dimensional void between the inner surfaces of the containing body. He showed that place was akin to space, foreshadowing René Descartes's concept of place in the Extensio in the 17th century.

Following on from his Treatise on Place, Ibn al-Haytham's Qawl fi al-Makan (Discourse on Place) was an important treatise which presents geometrical demonstrations for his geometrization of place, in opposition to Aristotle's philosophical concept of place, which Ibn al-Haytham rejected on mathematical grounds. Abd-el-latif, a supporter of Aristotle's philosophical view of place, later criticized the work in Fi al-Radd ‘ala Ibn al-Haytham fi al-makan (A refutation of Ibn al-Haytham’s place) for its geometrization of place.

Theology

Ibn al-Haytham was a devout Muslim, who is said to have been a follower of the orthodox Ash'ari school of Sunni Islamic theology, and opposed to the views of the Mu'tazili school, though he may have been a supporter of Mu'tazili theology or Shia Islam at some point in his life.

Ibn al-Haytham also wrote a work on Islamic theology, in which he discusses prophethood and develops a system of philosophical criteria to discern true prophethood from false claimants in his time.

Ibn al-Haytham attributed his experimental scientific method and scientific skepticism to his Islamic faith. The Qur'an, for example, placed a strong emphasis on empiricism. He also believed that human beings are inherently flawed and that only God is perfect. He reasoned that to discover the truth about nature, it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error, and allow the universe to speak for itself. He wrote in his Doubts Concerning Ptolemy:

In The Winding Motion, Ibn al-Haytham further wrote that faith should only apply to prophets of Islam and not to any other authorities, in the following comparison between the Islamic prophetic tradition and the demonstrative sciences:

Ibn al-Haytham described his search for truth and knowledge as a way of leading him closer to God:

See also

Notes

References

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Further reading

Primary sources

Secondary literature

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