Thabit ibn Qurra

Thabit ibn Qurra (836 - 901), an astronomer and mathematician born in present day Turkey, best known for translating classic Greek works on astronomy, and for coming up with a formula for amicable pairs.

Muhammad bin Musa bin Shakir invited Thabit to work in Baghdad’s House of Wisdom translating Greek and Syrian works (such as Apollonius’s Conics or works of Euclid and Archimedes). As he translated the texts, Thabit produced a mathematical body of his own.

Thabit was one of the Sabians. Their worship of planets and stars was tolerated by the Muslim caliphs, who were interested in their work on astronomy. It is believed that Thabit came up with early theories about the equinoxes, and made a pretty good estimate of the length of the sidereal year that was off by just a couple of seconds.

Thabit’s son was a doctor, and his grandson studied curves in order to make better sundials.

Title	Thabit ibn Qurra
Canonical name	ThabitIbnQurra
Date of creation	2013-03-22 15:53:01
Last modified on	2013-03-22 15:53:01
Owner	PrimeFan (13766)
Last modified by	PrimeFan (13766)
Numerical id	5
Author	PrimeFan (13766)
Entry type	Biography
Classification	msc 01A70
Classification	msc 01A30
Synonym	Thabit ibn Kurra
Synonym	Thabit ibn Kurrah
Synonym	Thabit ibn Qurrah
Synonym	Thabit bin Kurra
Synonym	Thabit bin Kurrah
Synonym	Thabit bin Qurra
Synonym	Thabit bin Qurrah
Synonym	Thebit
Synonym	Thâbit ibn Kurrah