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Omar Khayyam ABU OL-FATH EBN-EBRAHIM ’OMAR OL-KHAYYÁMI OF NISHAPUR 1048 CE May 15, Monday: Traditional date of birth of the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet Omar Khayyam يمغياث الدين ابو الفتح عمر بن ابراه Ghiyath al-Din Abu’l-Fath Omar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi Khayyámi) in Nishapur, the provincial capital of Khurasan in northeastern Iran, a town at an altitude of ,(خيام نيشابوري 3,920 feet. There appears to be no evidence whatever that he was born on this traditional date. It is, presumably, a pious fabrication committed by someone sometime. We think actually he was born in about 1038 to 1048, most likely 1044 — but hey, what does it matter? “Khayyam” means the tent-maker, and although generally he is considered as a Persian, it has also been suggested that he could have belonged to a tribe of Arab origin that settled in Persia. Little is known about his early life except that he was educated at Nishapur and lived there and at Samarqand for most of his life. He was a contemporary of Nidham al-Mulk Tusi. He would be the 1st to be able to solve some cubic equations, to wit, equations of degree three with the unknown raised to the third power and eventually would be recognized as the only person we know of, who was recognizably both a poet and a mathematician. Although patronage opportunities would be available to him, and although he would visit the great centers of learning in Samarqand, Bukhara, Balkh, and Isphahan in order to study and to interact with other scholars, he preferred a calm life devoted to inquiry and did not avail himself of the shah’s court. While at Samarqand he was patronized by a dignitary, Abu Tahir. HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 2 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1068 CE Omar Khayyam was 24 when he wrote his pioneering treatise on algebra, so it would have been in about this year. The MAQALAT FI AL-JABR WA AL-MUQABILA classified many algebraic equations based on their complexity and recognized 13 different forms of cubic equation. It pioneered a geometrical approach to solving equations which involved an selection of proper conics, which is to say, the mathematician was able to solve cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle. This was the first mathematical treatise to develop the binomial expansion when the exponent is a positive integer. Al-Khayyam has been considered to be the first to find the binomial theorem and determine binomial coefficients. He extended Euclid’s work giving a new definition of ratios and included the multiplication of ratios. He contributed to the theory of parallel lines. Although he referred in this Algebra book to another of his works, on what we now know as Pascal’s triangle, this other mathematical treatise is now unfortunately lost. (Ten books and thirty monographs have survived. These include four books on mathematics, one on algebra, one on geometry, three on physics, and three on metaphysics.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 3 HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 4 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1074 CE As astronomer to the Saljuq Sultan, Malikshah Jalal al-Din, Omar Khayyam was one of a group that was assigned to reform the solar calendar used for revenue collections and various administrative matters. To accomplish this task, a new observatory would be constructed at Ray, Iran. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 5 HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1079 CE March 15: As astronomer to the Saljuq Sultan, Malikshah Jalal al-Din, Omar Khayyam had been one of a group that had been assigned in 1074 to reform the solar calendar used for revenue collections and various administrative matters. A new observatory had been constructed at Ray. This day’s date marked the beginning of the so-called Jalalian or Seljuk era in accordance with their new method of solar calculation. This “Al-Tarikh-al-Jalali” calendar was more accurate than the Julian Calendar and almost as accurate as the Gregorian intercalation system which the West would embrace in DATE, in that it is accurate to within one day in 3,770 years whereas the Gregorian error amounts to 1 day in 3,330 years. Specifically, this group of scholars measured the length of the year to eleven decimal places, as 365.24219858156 days. (This is not a fixed thing, but can and does exhibit real variance from epoch to epoch due to various peculiarities of the planets and satellites of our solar system, the length of the solar year in the 19th Century having been 365.242196 days but in our own era having become, at this point, 365.242190 days.) 6 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM Omar Khayyam developed a method for accurate determination of specific gravity. Omar Khayyam authored treatises in metaphysics, RISALA DAR WUJUD and NAURUZ-NAMAH. (Ten books and thirty monographs have survived. These include four books on mathematics, one on algebra, one on geometry, three on physics, and three on metaphysics.) “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 7 HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1131 CE December 4, Friday:Although this is the traditional date of death of the Persian astronomer, mathematician, and poet Omar Khayyam in Nishapur, Iran, it is likely that he was already deceased by 1125 CE. 8 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1637 In solving cubics in LA GÉOMÉTRIE, René Descartes applied the approach that had been used by the astronomer and poet Omar Khayyam during the 12th Century. (Although this was not worth a lot of money, it was worthy of recognition, as below.) Also, by the way, Descartes’s DISCOURS DE LA METHODE. 1809 March 31, Friday: In the Cossack village of Sorochyntsi in Russia’s Ukraine, Nikolai Gogol was born, and in Suffolk, England near Woodbridge, Edward J. Fitzgerald was born. Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 6 day 31 of 3 M 1809 / Our friend E Thornton appointed a meeting at the 4th hour this Afternoon for the inhabitance of the Town, from which I have just return’d & may say that it was a time of rejoicing to me finding the current of Gospel communication to flow thro’ him copiously to the people & with good Authority RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 9 HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1826 Edward J. Fitzgerald matriculated at Cambridge University. 1830 Edward J. Fitzgerald graduated from Cambridge University. 1837 Edward J. Fitzgerald returned from Cambridge University to Woodbridge in Suffolk, living at Boulge. 10 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1844 35-year-old Edward J. Fitzgerald met Edward Byles Cowell, an 18-year-old who had at the age of 15 in a public library come across THE WORKS OF SIR WILLIAM JONES and who had taught himself Persian grammar — young Cowell would introduce Fitzgerald as well to Persian studies. 1849 February 19, Monday: Henry Thoreau was written to by Nathaniel Hawthorne in Salem. My dear Thoreau, The managers request that you will lecture before the Salem Lyceum on Wednesday evening after next — that is to say, on the 28th inst. May we depend on you? Please to answer immediately, if conve- nient. Mr Alcott delighted my wife and me, the other evening, by announc- ing that you had a book in press. I rejoice at it, and nothing doubt of such success as will be worth having. Should your manuscripts all be in the printers' hands, I suppose you can reclaim one of them, for a single evening's use, to be returned the next morning; — or per- haps that Indian lecture, which you mentioned to me, is in a state of forwardness. Either that, or a continuation of the Walden experi- ment (or, indeed, anything else,) will be acceptable. We shall expect you at 14, Mall-street. Very truly Yours, Nathl Hawthorne. 19 of 2 mo 1849: Bernard Barton died. Lucy Barton allied with Edward J. Fitzgerald to produce a selection of her father’s materials, POEMS AND LETTERS OF BERNARD BARTON, SELECTED BY LUCY BARTON, WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE BY EDWARD FITZGERALD (this was long before Fitzgerald had even so much as heard of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam). “THE QUAKER POET” 1851 Edward J. Fitzgerald’s EUPHRANOR. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 11 HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 12 Copyright Austin Meredith HDT WHAT? INDEX OMAR KHAYYAM OMAR KHAYYAM 1853 Edward J. Fitzgerald’s SIX DRAMAS OF CALDERON. Edward Byles Cowell enrolled at Oxford University. 1856 James Robert Ballantyne’s translation of the initial part of THE MAHÁBHÁSHYA (PATANJALI’S GREAT COMMENTARY ON PÁNINI’S FAMOUS GRAMMAR), WITH COMMENTARIES and A SYNOPSIS OF SCIENCE IN SANSKRIT AND ENGLISH, RECONCILED WITH THE TRUTHS TO BE FOUND IN THE NYÂYA PHILOSOPHY (Mirzapore). Edward Byles Cowell graduated from Oxford University. Before departing for his new post in India he came across in the Bodleian Library the Ouseley manuscript of the RUBAIYAT of Omar Khayyám and dispatched a copy to Edward J. Fitzgerald. November: Friend Bernard Barton’s daughter Lucy Barton got married with Edward J. Fitzgerald (this was a lousy idea and the couple would soon separate). 1857 March: Edward Byles Cowell discovered in the library of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta a manuscript of Persian quatrains by Omar Khayyám, and had a copy made and sent it to Edward J.
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