Husayni al-Isfahani

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For other persons named Al-Isfahani, see Al-Isfahani (disambiguation).

Ghiyath al-Din 'Ali ibn Amirin al-Husayni al-Isfahani was a 15th-century Persian physician and scientist from Isfahan, Iran. He is best known for a Persian encyclopedia of the natural sciences entitled Danish'namah-i Jahan, which he completed in either 1474 or 1466. The encyclopedia was concerned with meteorology, mineralogy, botany, and anatomy. A small treatise on foodstuffs, in table format, is preserved in the National Library of Medicine collection.

[edit] Sources

For his writings and the date of composition his encyclopedia, see:

Fateme Keshavarz, A Descriptive and Analytical Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1986), pp 386-7.
Storey PL II,3 C.A. Storey, Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey. Volume II, Part 3: F. Encyclopaedias and Miscellanies, G. Arts and Crafts, H. Science, J. Occult Arts (London: Royal Asiatic Society, 1977), pp 357-8 no. 595.