Abbas ibn Firnas
Great Muslim Scientists and Thinkers
•
3m 16s
Ibn Firnas was a polymath: an inventor, physician, chemist, engineer, Andalusian musician, and Arabic-language poet who lived in Córdoba. A pioneer of aviation, Ibn Firnas built the first human carrying glider and is reputed to have had two successful flights. His work and ideas went on to influence some of the ideas we see today in aircraft design.
Up Next in Great Muslim Scientists and Thinkers
-
Omar Khayyam
A Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. He was born in Nishabur, in northeastern Iran, and spent most of his life near the court of the Karakhanid and Seljuq rulers in the period which witnessed the First Crusade.
-
Mimar Sinan
He was the chief Ottoman architect ("mimar") and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than 300 major structures and other more modest projects, such as schools. His apprentices would later design the Sultan A...
-
Al-Zahrawi
An Arab-Andalusian physician, surgeon and chemist. Considered to be the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages, he has been described as the father of surgery. His principal work is the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopedia of medical practices. The surgery chapter of this work was later tra...