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Nasir al-Din al-Tusi

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For other uses, see Tusi.
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
Commemorated on an Iranian stamp upon the 700th anniversary of his death.
Philosophical work
EraMedieval era
RegionPersian scholar
SchoolShi'a
Main interestsTheology, Philosophy, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine
Notable ideasSpherical trigonometry, Tusi-couple
Tusi couple from Vat. Arabic ms 319
For other uses, see Muhammad Nasir-al-din.

Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Hasan al-Tusi (Template:Lang-fa–) was a 13th century Persian of the Shi'a Twelver Islamic belief, born in Tus, Khorasan, Iran. He is known as a philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, theologian, physician, and a prolific writer, i.e., he was a polymath.

K. N. Toosi University of Technology in Iran is named after him.

Biography

Nasir al-Din Tusi was born in Tus in the year 1201 and began his studies at an early age. In Tus he studied Arabic, the Qur'an, Hadith, Shi'a jurisprudence, logic, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and astronomy.[1]

At a young age he moved to Nishapur to study philosophy under Farid al-Din Damad and mathematics under Muhammad Hasib.[2]

As the armies of Genghis Khan swept his homeland, he fled to join the Ismailis and made his most important contributions in science during this time when he was moving from one stronghold to another. He finally joined Hulagu Khan's ranks, after the invasion of the Alamut castle by the Hashshashin Mongol forces.

Achievements

Tusi made very accurate tables of planetary movements as depicted in his book Zij-i ilkhani (the Ilkhanic Tables). This books contains astronomical tables for calculating the positions of the planets and the names of the stars. His model for the planetary system is believed to be the most advanced of his time, and was used extensively until the development of the heliocentric model in the time of Copernicus. Between Ptolemy and Copernicus, he is considered by many to be one of the most eminent astronomers of his time.

He was perhaps the first to treat trigonometry as a separate mathematical discipline, and in his Treatise on the Quadrilateral he was the first to list the six distinct cases of a right triangle in spherical trigonometry.

For his planetary models, he invented a geometrical technique called a Tusi-couple, which generates linear motion from the sum of two circular motions. He also calculated the value for the annual precession of the equinoxes and contributed to the construction and usage of some astronomical instruments including the astrolabe. He gave the first extensive exposition of spherical trigonometry.

A 60-km diameter lunar crater located on the southern hemisphere of the moon is named after him as "Nasireddin".

He also wrote extensively on biology and is one of the early pioneers of a kind of evolutionism in scientific thought.[3]

File:Tusi manus.JPG
A Treatise on Astrolabe by al-Tusi, Isfahan 1505

His works

  • "Tajrid-al-'Aqaid" – A major work on al-Kalam (Islamic scholastic philosophy).
  • "Al-Tadhkirah fi'ilm al-hay'ah" – A memoir on the science of astronomy. Many commentaries were written about this work called Sharh al-Tadhkirah (A Commentary on al-Tadhkirah) - Commentaries were written by Abd al-Ali, Al-Birjandi, and by Nazzam Nishapuri.
  • "Akhlaq-i-Nasri" – A work on ethics.
  • "al-Risalah al-Asturlabiyah" A Treatise on astrolabe.

References

  1. ^ Dabashi, Hamid. "Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: The philosopher/vizier and the intellectual climate of his times". Routledge History of World Philosophies. Vol I. History of Islamic Philosophy. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman (eds.) London: Routledge. 1996. p. 529
  2. ^ Siddiqi, Bakhtyar Husain. "Nasir al-Din Tusi". A History of Islamic Philosophy. Vol 1. M. M. Sharif (ed.). Wiesbaden:: Otto Harrossowitz. 1963. p. 565
  3. ^ "The organisms that can gain the new features faster are more variable. As a result, they gain advantages over other creatures." As quoted in Farid Alakbarov, "A 13th-Century Darwin? Tusi's Views on Evolution," Azerbaijan International, Summer 2001 (9.2)

See also

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