Medieval Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age, and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments
18th century Persian brass astrolabe at the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, England. The astrolabe consists of a disk engraved with the positions of the celestial bodies.
The Tusi-couple is a mathematical device invented by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in which a small circle rotates inside a larger circle twice the diameter of the smaller circle. Rotations of the circles cause a point on the circumference of the smaller circle to oscillate back and forth in linear motion along a diameter of the larger circle.
An illustration from al-Biruni's astronomical works that explains the different phases of the moon, with respect to the position of the Sun.
Ibn al-Shatir's model for the appearances of Mercury, showing the multiplication of epicycles using the Tusi-couple, thus eliminating the Ptolemaic eccentrics and equant.
House of Wisdom
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The House of Wisdom, also known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, was believed to be a major Abbasid-era public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad. In popular reference, it acted as one of the
Scholars at the Abbasid library (Maqamat al-Hariri) Illustration by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, 1237
The earliest scientific manuscripts originated in the Abbasid era
Physicians employing a surgical method. From Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's Imperial Surgery (1465)
Hulagu Khan's siege of Baghdad (1258)