Al-Biruni

Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī (Chorasmian/Persian: ابوریحان بیرونی‎‎ Abū Rayḥān Bērōnī;New Persian: Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī) (4/5 September 973 – 13 December 1048), known as Al-Biruni (Arabic: البيروني‎) in English, was a Khwarezmian IranianMuslim scholar and polymath.

Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored “Tarikh Al-Hind” (History of India) after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India. He is given the titles the "founder of Indology". He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh ("The Master") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the "father of geodesy" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography.

9936 Al-Biruni

9936 Al-Biruni, provisional designation 1986 PN₄, is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, about 24 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 8 August 1986, by Belgian and Bulgarian astronomers Eric Elst and Violeta Ivanova at the Rozhen Observatory, located in Bulgaria's Smolyan province near the border to Greece.

The C-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.5–3.7 AU once every 5 years and 5 months (1,971 days). Its orbit is tilted by 15 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic and shows an eccentricity of 0.19. It has a rotation period of 10.7 hours and an albedo between 0.05 and 0.06, according to the space-based surveys carried out by the Japanese Akari satellite and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

The minor planet was named after the Persian scholar and polymath Al-Biruni (973–1048). Regarded as the founder of Indology and the father of geodesy, he made important contributions to anthropology, mathematics and astronomy. In particular, he is known for developing a method for the summation of series, for solving algebraic equations, and for the triangulation of distances on Earth's surface. The lunar crater Al-Biruni is also named in his honour.

Al-Biruni (crater)

Al-Biruni is an impact crater that lies on the far side of the Moon, just beyond the eastern limb. This portion of the surface is sometimes brought into sight due to librations of the Moon, but due to its location the crater is viewed from the side. Al-Biruni lies to the south of the crater Joliot, and to the northeast of Goddard.

The rim of Al-Biruni forms a somewhat irregular circle, with a slight outward bulge in the northeast wall, and a somewhat wider inner wall to the west. The interior floor is relatively flat, with a few tiny craterlets to mark the surface. The most notable of these is Al-Biruni C near the northeast wall.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Al-Biruni.

See also

References