Abol-fath Khazeni

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Abol-fath al-Khazeni, was a 12th century Persian physicist and engineer from Khorasan.

He wrote the most important and comprehensive work on Mechanics in The Middle Ages, the Kitab Mizan al-Hikma, ("The balance of wisdom"). Here, he gives a history of statics and hydrostatics with rigorous commentaries on the works of his predecessors, including Archimedes, Euclid, Menelaus, Pappus of Alexandria, al-Biruni, and Khayyam. Although he acknowledges the work of these scholars, there is no doubt that he made significant contributions of his own. The work is divided into 8 treatises on center of gravity, density, specific weight (something carried out by Robert Boyle centuries later), and scales and balances.

[edit] Sources

  • Islamic Science and Engineering, Donald Hill, Edinburgh, p60-68.

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