QATAR MEDICAL JOURNAL VOL. 11 / NO.

2 / NOVEMBER 2002

BIOGRAPHY

IBN AL HAITHAM
(Abu Ali Hassan Ibn Al Haitham)
(965 -1038)

A,.bu Ali Hassan objects not in the eye.

Ibn Al Haitham was one Through these intensive
of the most eminent researches on optics, he
physicists, whose contri- is considered the "Fa-
butions to optics and the ther of the Modern Op-
scientific methods are tics".
outstanding. Known in The Latin transla-
the West as Alhazen, Ibn tion of his main work,
Al Haitham was born in Kitab Al Manadhir, ex-
965 A.D. in Basrah, and erted a great influence
was educated in Basrah upon Western science
and Baghdad (Iraq). e.g. on the work of
He made a thorough Roger Bacon and Kep-
examination of the pas- ler. It brought about a
sage of light through great progress in experi-
various media and dis- mental methods.
covered the laws of re- In his book Mizan
fraction. He also carried AlHikmah Ibn Al Hai-
out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its tham has discussed the density of the atmosphere and
constituent colors. His book Kitab Al Manadhir was trans- developed a relation between it and the light.
lated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as also his book deal- The list of his books runs to 200 or so, but very few
ing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the have survived.
theory of various physical phenomena like shadows,
In his writing, one can see a clear development of the
eclipses, the rainbow, and speculated on the physical na-
scientific methods as developed and applied by the Mus-
ture of light. He is the first to describe accurately the vari-
lims and comprising the systemic observation of physical
ous parts of the eye and gave a scientific explanation of
phenomena and their thinking together into a scientific
the process of the vision. He also attempted to explain
theory.
binocular vision, and gave a correct explanation of the
apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when Ibn Al Haitham's influence on physical sciences in
near the horizon. He contradicted the long theory by general, and optics in particular, has been held in high es-
Ptolemy and Euclid of vision that objects are seen by rays teem and in fact, it ushered in a new era in optical research,
of light emanating from the eyes. Ibn Al Hai-tham cor- both in theory and practice. Much of what we see today in
rectly stated that according to him the rays originate in the optic technology takes most from his original work.

Editor-in-Chief