A critical edition of Ibn al-Haytham's \textit{On the shape of the eclipse}. The first experimental study of the camera obscura
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: A critical edition of Ibn al-Haytham's \textit{On the shape of the eclipse}. The first experimental study of the camera obscura
zbMATH Open document ID: 1358.01006
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47991-0
author: Dominique Raynaud
published in: Sources and Studies in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences
publication date: 2016-10-27T00:00:00Z
review text: This book is much more than what is promised by the title. While the author refrains from a definite answer it is clear that he subscribes to the opinion that the mathematician/physicist al-Hasan Ibn al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham is not identical with the philosopher Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan Ibn al Haytham. The book deals with the optics of an observation of a partial eclipse of the sun (identified as probably an eclipse in 990 observed in Basra) with a geometric-optics proof of the properties of the observed features (the variable image of the crescent-shaped sun). The critical edition of the Arabic text and its very legible English translation takes up about 50 pages of the 260 pages of the book. The extensive commentary first shows by a careful linguistic analysis that Ibn al-Haytham most probably was independent from precedessors and contemporaries in his mathematical treatment of geometric optics and also was misunderstood by modern commentators. The bulk of the commentary is a very detailed geometric exposition of the mathematics and physics referring to visibility and sharpness of the image observed in a camera obscura, including a study of he optimal size of the hole for sharpness. An appendix determines which manuscript illustrations seem to be authentic reproductions of the author's and which eclipse was observed. The author's idiosyncratic use of Arabic words to express scientific terms are collected in a useful glossary.
reviewed by: Heinrich Guggenheimer
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01-02
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A30
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 01A75
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 51-03
zbMATH DE Number: 6644902
zbMATH Keywords: al-Haytham
zbMATH Keywords: geometric optics
zbMATH Keywords: eclipse of the sun
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47991-0
OpenAlex ID: W2555518565
Recommended article: L'optique d'ibn al-haytham et la tradition ptoléméenne
Recommended article: Le commentaire par al-Kindī de l'Optique d'euclide: un traité jusqu'ici inconnu
Recommended article: Q3351319
Recommended article: A Re-analysis of the Eclipse Observations in Ptolemy's Almagest
Recommended article: Ptolemy, Alhazen, and Kepler and the Problem of Optical Images
Recommended article: Q6137555
Recommended article: Q5701757
Recommended article: Q5293245
Recommended article: Ibn al-Haytham's Homocentric Epicycles in Latin Astronomical Texts of the XIVth and XVth Centuries
Recommended article: Ptolemy, Alhacen, and Ibn Mu'adh and the Problem of Atmospheric Refraction
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 6644902