Roshdi Rashed

Ibn al-Haytham

The Emergence of Scientific Modernity

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Ibn al-Haytham: The Emergence of Scientific Modernity offers the first comprehensive monograph on one of the most brilliant figures of the medieval intellectual world. Spanning his groundbreaking contributions in mathematics, optics, astronomy, and natural philosophy, this book portrays Ibn al-Haytham as he was seen in his own time: a man of universal learning whose methods, sources, and intellectual reputation resonated far beyond his era. Moving beyond the familiar terrain of his Kit¿b al-Man¿¿ir (Book of Optics), it places his achievements in a much wider context, examining his lesser-studied writings on geometry, mechanics, and scientific method. Through a systematic analysis of these works, the book demonstrates how Ibn al-Haytham's experimental rigor, mathematical formalism, and critical engagement with earlier Greek and Arabic sources foreshadowed core principles of the European Scientific Revolution. It shows how his insistence on verification through observation and reasoning forged a distinctive approach that inspired thinkers from medieval Cairo to Renaissance Europe. An essential resource for historians of science, Islamic studies scholars, and anyone interested in the intellectual foundations of modernity, this volume restores Ibn al-Haytham to his rightful place as a pioneering figure in the history of ideas and a bridge between classical learning and the birth of modern science.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Seitenzahl: 308
• Erscheinungstermin: 25. März 2026
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm
• Gewicht: 453g
• ISBN-13: 9781032323497
• ISBN-10: 1032323493
• Artikelnr.: 75125346

Autorenporträt

Roshdi Rashed is one of the most eminent authorities on Arabic mathematics and the exact sciences. A historian and philosopher of mathematics and science and a highly celebrated epistemologist, he is currently Emeritus Research Director (distinguished class) at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, and is the former Director of the Centre for History of Medieval Science and Philosophy at the University of Paris (Denis Diderot, Paris VII). He also holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Tokyo and an Emeritus Professorship at the University of Mansourah in Egypt.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents Foreword Introduction. Ibn al-Haytham: from basra to cairo. PART ONE: MATHEMATICS Chapter I: Quadrature of lunes and of the circle Chapter II: Finding surface areas and volumes of solids bounded by curves II. 1: Euclid, Elements X, proposition 1 II. 2: On the measurement of the paraboloid II. 3: The volume of the sphere Chapter III: Isoperimetric and isepiphanic figures Chapter IV: Conic sections: theory and applications. 1 Chapter V: Conic sections: theory and applications. 2. Conic sections and geometrical constructions V. 1: The construction of the regular heptagon V. 2: On the construction of the heptagon in a circle V. 3: The division of Archimedes' straight line V. 4: On a solid numerical problem Chapter VI: Point-to-point transformations and the new geometrical discipline: the knowns Chapter VII: Number Theory PART TWO: OPTICS Chapter VIII: The reform of optics VIII. 1: Light and vision VIII. 2: Light and colours Chapter IX: Catoptrics, anaclastics and dioptrics IX. 1: Reflection IX. 2: Refraction Chapter X: Burning mirrors, anaclastics and dioptrics X. 1: Burning mirrors in the ninth to the eleventh centuries: From anaclastics to dioptrics X. 1. 1: Al-Kind
, Ibn L
q
and their successors X. 1. 2: Ibn Sahl and Ibn al-Haytham X. 1. 3: The heirs of Ibn al-Haytham's research on anaclastics in Arabic and in Latin X. 2: Ibn Sahl: The geometrical theory of lenses X. 3: Ibn al-Haytham and the development of dioptrics X. 4: The burning sphere and the introduction of algorithmic methods : Kam
l al-D
n al-F
ris
PART THREE: ASTRONOMY Chapter XI: Ibn al-Haytham's new astronomy XI. 1: Ibn al-Haytham's work in astronomy XI. 2: The Configuration of the motions of each of the seven wandering stars XI. 2. 1: On the variety of the heights XI. 2. 2: On the hour lines XI. 2. 3: On the correction of operations in astronomy Chapter XII: The structure of The Configuration of the motions XII. 1: Research on variations XII. 2: Planetary theory XII. 2. 1: The apparent motion of the heavenly bodies XII. 2. 1. 1: The apparent motion of the noon between its rising and its meridian passage XII. 2. 1. 2: The apparent motion of the sun between its rising and its meridian passage XII. 2. 1. 3: The apparent motion of each of the five planets between its rising and its meridian passage XII. 2. 2: The inclination of the wandering stars with respect to the equator PART FOUR: PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS Chapter XIII: Principles and fundamental concepts of mathematics : magnitudes XIII. 1: The concept of magnitude XIII. 2: The comparison of magnitudes XIII. 3: The concept of spatiality: place XIII. 4: Parallel lines Chapter XIV: Methods of proof and of discovery XIV. 1: The analytic art XIV. 2: Direct demonstration and apagogic demonstration BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX