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1048 – 1131 · Nishapur
Omar Khayyám
The astronomer of Nishapur who measured the year, then wrote four lines about how little of it we hold.
About
Omar Khayyám was born in 1048 in Nishapur, a great city in what is now northeastern Iran. He was one of the finest minds of his age, though poetry was almost a side interest for him. He worked as a mathematician and wrote a book on algebra that solved cubic equations using geometry, which was a real advance for its time. He was also an astronomer. A ruler asked him to help reform the calendar, and the result was so accurate that it rivals the modern one.
Books on the Atlas
- Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám c. 1100
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