Two treatises on the astrolabe by Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni (973-1048 A.D.)

Abstract

Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad Biruni (973-1048 A.D.) was one of the leading mathematicians and astronomers in the 11th century Islamic tradition. Of the some 120 works he penned, 26 are still extant today, and 24 of these have been published previously. This thesis is thus devoted to the two, as yet unpublished, Arabic texts. In them, Biruni treats applications of the astrolabe, an astronomical instrument used for timekeeping by the sun and stars as well as for other purposes. We provide a critical edition of the Arabic texts of both treatises, a complete English translation of the more complicated of the two, a summary of the other, introductions, and commentaries.