Recently published articles on Taqi al-Din on www.MuslimHeritage.com:Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf, nicknamed Taqi al-Din, was born in Damascus in 932 H/1525-26. He died in Istanbul in 993 H/1585. A scientist expert in different fields, he made valuable contributions in mathematics, astronomy, optics, and mechanics. He was the founder and the director of the Istanbul Observatory; as such and as an astronomer, he invented and improved various astronomical instruments, among which an automatic-mechanical clock that he used in astronomical observations. He designed original and sophisticated machines and devices and advanced the arithmetic of decimal fractions and used them in the calculation of astronomical tables.
The particular significance of Taqi al-Din in the tradition of Islamic science is that he personifies the best of Islamic science in the 16th century. With his work, Islamic science was still original and creative. Being highly original, his work can be compared with Tycho Brahe and with Italian engineers, whom he preceded in the design of original machines and instruments. However, he was one of the last original and prolific scientists to practice and write science in Arabic following the centuries-old Islamic scientific tradition. After him, the rate of originality will decrease, and at the same time modern European science will experience a real and exponential take-off with Kepler, Galileo, and later with Newton.
The folder we dedicate to Taqi al-Din's memory and achievements contains the following articles:
1. First a A Bio-Bibliographical Essay by Salim Ayduz composed of a biographical sketch and a comprehensive compilation listing most of Taqi al-Din's writings from manuscript sources.
2. A Bibliography on Taqi Al-Din in which are presented most of the recent publications issued in the history of science in the last decades on Taqi al-Din ibn Ma'ruf. The list encloses articles and books on Taqi al-Din and his works in astronomy, mathematics, mechanics, engineering and optics.
3. The article by Ihsan Fazlioglu Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf: Survey on his Works and Scientific Method is composed of two intermingled layers: a bio-bibliographical essay on the life and works of Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf, which gives the occasion to present the contents of his books and thus characterizes his scientific method in comparison with his predecessors.
Taqi al-Din's mechanics is covered in two long and detailed articles which are of tremendous value by themselves in the sense that they describe the virtual reconstruction of two important machines, an astronomical clock and the six cylinder pump:
4. Salim Al-Hassani, The Astronomical Clock of Taqi Al-Din: Virtual Reconstruction: this article presents for the first time a virtual reconstruction of the astronomical clock type through geometrical drawing and 3D animation described in Taqi al-Din's treatise Al-Kawakib al-durriyya fi wadh' al-bankamat al-dawriyya;
5. Another article by Salim Al-Hassani and Mohammed A. Al-Lawati is dedicated to The Six-Cylinder Water Pump of Taqi al-Din: Its Mathematics, Operation and Virtual Design. It deals with the mathematics and virtual reconstruction of a sophisticated water raising pump presented by Taqi al-Din in his book Al-Turuq al-saniya fi al-'alat al-ruhaniya.
6. Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf 's Work on Extracting the Cord 2o and Sin 1o by Sevim Tekeli deals with an aspect of the work of Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf in trigonometry. Approaching Taqi al-Din's work through modern methods of notation, his mathematical method in extracting the cord 2° and Sin 1° is fully disclosed.
7. Taqi al-Din ibn Ma‘ruf and the Science of Optics: The Nature of Light and the Mechanism of Vision by Hüseyin Gazi Topdemir surveys the contents of the book Kitab Nur hadaqat al-ibsar wa-nur haqiqat al-anzar. It is the only existing article in English on Taqi al-Din's optics.
8. The Instruments of Istanbul Observatory by Sevim Tekeli describes the instruments built by Taqi al-Din and his team at the Istanbul observatory and points out in particular the close resemblances between them and those used in Western Europe by Tycho Brahe, at the same time, in his observatory at Uraniborg Castle.
Other articles related to Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf on www.MuslimHeritage.com:
