Ibn al-Haytham
965 – 1040 Arab scientist, mathematician
The father of optics and an early champion of the experimental method.
- Religion
- Muslim; his scientific method was independent of doctrine.
- Affiliations
- Worked in Cairo under the Fatimid caliphate. No secret society.
Ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen, showed that we see because light enters the eye, overturning ancient theories. His Book of Optics insisted on experiment and evidence, anticipating the scientific method. His work shaped Roger Bacon, Kepler, and the study of light.
In the timeline
- 1021 Ibn al-Haytham and the experimental study of light central figure