Omar Khayyam, born Ghiyath al-Din Abu’l-Fath Umar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi al-Khayyámi, was an 11th-century Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician. Raised in the town of Nishapur in present-day northern Iran, Khayyam is thought to have been the son of tent makers, as “al-khayyami” translates to “tent maker.” His diverse talents spanned mathematics, astronomy, and poetry.
Mathematical and Astronomical Contributions:
- Khayyam’s mathematical and astronomical ideas were groundbreaking. His Treatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra (1070) remains a seminal text in algebra. In addition to engaging Euclidean geometry, he offered methods for solving cubic and quadratic equations, introducing the concept of binomial expansion.
- As part of a scientific team under the patronage of Sultan Jalal al-Din Malekshah Saljuqi, Khayyam built an observatory. There, he precisely measured the length of the solar year, losing only one day every 5,000 years—far superior to the Gregorian calendar’s loss of a day every 3,330 years. He also contributed to the development of the Jalali calendar, a precursor to the modern Iranian calendar.
Poetry and the Rubáiyát:
- Khayyam’s poetic legacy centers around his collection of quatrains, known as the Rubáiyát. These short poems celebrate life’s pleasures while navigating the nuanced political and religious context of their creation.
- The Rubáiyát was first translated from Farsi into English by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859. Although Fitzgerald’s translations remain influential, it’s important to note that they take liberties with the original content. Some scholars believe Khayyam penned only about 150 quatrains, with peers or predecessors contributing the rest.
- Khayyam’s indulgent attitudes in the Rubáiyát sometimes contradicted Islamic precepts, leading to his falling out of favor with court patrons. He passed away in 1131.
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