Omar Khayyam: A Brief Biography

Omar Khayyam

Omar Khayyam was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet. Full name in arabic is Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nīsābūrī al-Khayyāmī born in May 18th ,1048( died 1131). He was recognized by many scientist as a genius in many aspect including both literature and mathematical. He was most well known for his work on cubic equations and his calendar reform. The man himself remains something of an enigma. Different biographers have documented him as a fun-loving, wine-drinking agnostic: a Sufi Muslim; an orthodox Sunni Muslim; and a follower of Ancient Greek philosophy. All agree that he was an incredible intellectual. He renowned in his own country and time for his scientific achievements but chiefly known to

Based on making 8 of every 33 years leap years, it was more accurate than the present Gregorian calendar, and it was adopted in 1075 by Malik-Shāh. Khayyam found that 1,029,983 days made 2,820 years. This gives a tropical year length of 365.2422 days to seven significant figures. Although it has become fashionable to quote more decimal places than this, Khayyam’s input of 1,029,983 days contains seven significant figures, so it is unreasonable to quote more than this number of significant figures in the calculated year length. Today we know that the length of a tropical year actually changes by as much as 30 minutes from year to year. The average tropical year length quoted today is 365.242189 days, which to seven significant figures is 365.2422 days – exactly the figure Khayyam arrived at almost a thousand years ago. The length of a tropical year is also increasing very slightly as time passes, although not enough between Khayyam’s era and our own to be noticeable on a scale of seven significant figures. In Eṣfahān he also produced fundamental critiques of Euclid’s theory of parallels as well as his theory of proportion.

He then returned to Neyshābūr where he taught and served the court as an astrologer. Philosophy, jurisprudence, history, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy are among the subjects mastered by this brilliant man.

His achievement in poetry was also well known. There is a manuscript tradition attributing poetry, mostly in the form of quatrains (rubaiyat) to Omar Khayyam. There are more than 100 manuscripts containing such poetry, but all of them are comparatively late, the earliest such source that can be dated with confidence was written in 1460, and the bulk dates to the 17th to 19th centuries. Bodleian MS. Ouseley 140, a manuscript written in Shiraz in 1460, contains 158 quatrains on 47 folia. The manuscript belonged to William Ouseley (1767-1842) and was purchased by the Bodleian Library in 1844.

Omar Khayyam was a pioneer in mathematics, literature and astronomies. The man himself is a genius and also enigmatic at the same time. To his friend he was open minded, easy going and also a alcohol lover. Despite this his works are extraordinary. Overall, he didn 't receive enough achievements that he deserved. But at the time he was well known as a outstanding