PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST/ALHAZEN

YOU  many have heard of Abu 'Alial-Hasan ibn al-Haytham.  In the West he is known as Alhazen, a Latinized form of his Arabic first name.  al-Hasan.  In all likelihood, though, you benefited from his lifework.  He has been described as "one of the most important and influential figures in the history of science. 

Alhazen was born in Basra, now in Iraq, about 965 C.E. His interests included astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, music, optics, physics, and poetry.  What in particular do we have to thank him for? 

A DAM ON THE NILE

A story about Alhazen has circulated for a long time.  It concerns his plan to regulate the flow of the Nile River almost 1,000 years before the project was actually carried out as Aswan in 1902. 

As the story goes, Alhazen laid out ambitious plans to alleviate the cycle of floods and droughts in Egypt by damming the Nile.  When Cairo's ruler Caliph al-Hakim, heard of  the idea, he invited Alhazen to Egypt to build the dam.  Yet, on seeing the river with his own eyes, Alhazen knew that the project was beyond him.  Fearing punishment from this notoriously  unstable ruler, Alhazen pretended to be insane until the caliph died some 11  years later, in 1021.  In the meantime, Alhazen had plenty of leisure time to pursue other interests while confined in his feigned mental illness. 

Next time: PORTRAITS FROM THE PAST/ALHAZEN - THE BOOK OF OPTICS

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