Biography of Ibn Haitham, World-Respected Muslim Physicist

 

Biography of Ibn Haitham, World-Respected Muslim Physicist

History has proven that in fact the Islamic world has given birth to many scientists in various fields, such as in the fields of philosophy, science, politics, literature, society, religion, medicine, and so on.

Since the time of the Prophet SAW, Islamic scientists have emerged. They found various sciences in the fields of science, politics, health, astronomy, literature, and so on. One of these figures is Ibn Haitham.

This figure is known as a physicist, because of his many discoveries that support physics, such as the theory of the law of refraction, the theory of vision, concave mirrors and convex lenses, and the theory of the refraction of light that he has discovered. This finding is even longer several centuries before Isaac Newton, the scientist who later popularized it.

Ibn Haitham or actually Abu All Muhammad al-Hasan Ibn Hatiham, and among Western scientists he is known by the name Alhazen. Ibn Haitam was born in Basra 354 H/965 AD. He started his early education in Basra before being appointed as a government employee in his hometown.

After some time serving the government there, he decided to migrate to Ahwaz and Baghdad. Overseas he has continued his studies and focused on writing.

His love for knowledge has led him to emigrate to Egypt. While there he took the opportunity to undertake some research work on the flow and drainage of the Nile as well as copying books on mathematics and astronomy. The goal is to get some spare money on the way to Al-Azhar University.

As a result of these efforts, he has become a very proficient in the fields of science, astronomy, mathematics, geometry, medicine, and philosophy. His writings on the eye have become one of the important references in the field of scientific studies in the West. In fact, his study of eye medicine has become the basis for the study of modern medicine regarding the eye.

Ibn Haitham has produced various works which he wrote in Arabic, and his works are not widely known. In fact, it is his work that also opens new horizons for scientists after most of them are scientists from the West. However, because there is no patent on his work, European scientists and Barta are until now known to the world.

Among his works are Al-Jami fi Usul al Hisab (metametric theories and analysis), Kitab al Tahlil wa al-Taarkib (geometry), Kitab Tahlil au al Masȃil al Adadiyah (algebra), Papers fi Istikhraj Smat al Qiblah (the direction of Qibla for all regions), Papers on fima tad'û Ilaih (geometry in matters of sharia law), and even the Kitab di Sinȃ'at al-Syi'r (poetry writing techniques).

However, it is very unfortunate, most of the scientists at the time of the Prophet did not patent their knowledge. They only apply it according to their respective fields of knowledge. This is what causes many Islamic scientists who are not known to the world today.

As a result, the world only knows scientists from Europe and the West who have patented their science, such as Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Archimedes, Aristotle, Galileo Galilei, Georg Ohm, John Dalton, Isaac Newton, Niels Bohr, and Thomas Alva Edison. Including Ibn Haitham.

Some of his works are not widely known to the world, when in fact some of his works are the pioneers of science as it is today. So it is very unfortunate when there is no patent on the work of Muslim scientists.

Even so, his name still smells good and is considered the person who first popularized science and physics throughout the world. He also inspired western scientists such as Kepler and Bacon to make telescopes and microscopes.