Abu Sa'id Ahmed ibn Mohammed ibn Abd al-Jalil al-Sijzi (c. 945 - c. 1020, also known as al-Sinjari and al-Sijazi; ; Al-Sijzi is short for "Al-Sijistani") was an Iranian Muslim astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. He is notable for his correspondence with al-Biruni and for proposing that the Earth rotates around its axis in the 10th century.
He dedicated work to 'Adud al-Daula, who was probably his patron, and to the prince of Balkh. He also worked in Shiraz making astronomical observations from 969 to 970.
Mathematics Al-Sijzi studied intersections of conic sections and circles. He replaced the old kinematical trisection of an angle by a purely geometric solution (intersection of a circle and an equilateral hyperbola.)
Earth's rotation Al-Biruni tells us that Al-Sijzi invented an astrolabe, called "al-zūraqī", whose design was based on the idea that the Earth rotates:Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1993), An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, pp. 135–136. State University of New York Press, .
Al-Biruni also referred to Al-Sijzi as a prominent astronomer who defended the theory that the Earth rotates in al-Qānūn al-Masʿūdī."ʾaḥad al-mubrazīn fī ʿilm al-hayʾa"
The fact that some people did believe that the Earth is moving on its own axis is further confirmed by a reference from the 13th century which states: "According to the geometers [or engineers] (muhandisīn), the earth is in constant circular motion, and what appears to be the motion of the heavens is actually due to the motion of the earth and not the stars."
References
Sources
Suter, Heinrich: Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke (80–81, 224, 1900).
Further reading
External links (PDF version)