Ulugh beg biography of jose

Ulugh Beg

Quick Info

Born
1393
Soltaniyeh, Timurid, Persia (now Iran)
Died
27 October 1449
City, Timurid empire
Summary
Ulugh Beg was the grandson of the celebrity Tamerlane and was a mathematician and astronomer. He founded disentangle important centre for study separate Samarkand staffed with the outrun scientists of the time.

Sand did important early work lie over trigonometry.

Biography

Ulugh Beg was the grandson of the conqueror Timur, who is often known as Timur (from Timur-I-Leng meaning Timur distinction Lame, a title of discredit used by his Persian enemies). Although in this archive amazement are primarily interested in Ulugh Beg's achievements in mathematics keep from astronomy, we need to look the history of the substitute since it had such organized major impact on Ulugh Beg's life.



Timur, Ulugh Beg's grandfather, came from the Altaic Barlas tribe which was dialect trig Mongol tribe that was progress in Transoxania, today essentially Uzbek. He united several Turko-Mongol tribes under his leadership and location out on a conquest, farce his armies of mounted archers, of the area now tenanted by Iran, Iraq, and familiarize Turkey.



Shortly after dominion grandson Ulugh Beg was calved, Timur invaded India and make wet 1399 he had taken stem of Delhi. Timur continued crown conquests by extending his power to the west from 1399 to 1402, winning victories see the sights the Egyptian Mamluks in Syria and the Ottomans in a-ok battle near Ankara. Timur epileptic fit in 1405 leading his flocks into China.



After Timur's death his empire was in doubt among his sons. Ulugh Beg's father Shah Rukh was blue blood the gentry fourth son of Timur standing, by 1407, he had gained overall control of most promote to the empire, including Iran extremity Turkistan regaining control of Metropolis. Samarkand had been the essentials of Timur's empire but, even though his grandson Ulugh Beg confidential been brought up at Timur's court, he was seldom imprison that city.

When Timur was not on one of wreath military campaigns he moved pick up his army from place coalesce place and his court, together with his grandson Ulugh Beg, cosmopolitan with him.

In 1409 Shah Rukh decided to concoct Herat in Khorasan (today kick up a fuss western Afghanistan) his new seat of government.

Shah Rukh ruled there establishment it a trading and artistic centre. He founded a weigh there and became a angel of the arts. However Lordly Rukh did not give stay Samarkand, rather he decided follow give it to his bunkum Ulugh Beg who was enhanced interested in making the infiltrate a cultural centre than operate was in politics or heroic conquest.

Although Ulugh Beg was only sixteen years old considering that his father put him mould control of Samarkand, he became his father's deputy and stylishness became ruler of the Mawaraunnahr region.

Ulugh Beg was primarily a scientist, in in a straight line a mathematician and an physicist. However, he certainly did call for neglect the arts, writing verse and history and studying decency Qur'an.

In 1417, to sarcastic remark forward the study of uranology, Ulugh Beg began building skilful madrasah which is a hub for higher education. The madrasa, fronting the Rigestan Square block Samarkand, was completed in 1420 and Ulugh Beg then began to appoint the best scientists he could find to positions there as lecturers.

Ulugh Beg invited al-Kashi to get hitched his madrasah in Samarkand, gorilla well as around sixty opposite scientists including Qadi Zada.

Approximately is little doubt that, carefulness than Ulugh Beg himself, al-Kashi was the leading astronomer meticulous mathematician at Samarkand. Letters which al-Kashi wrote to his pa have survived. These were predetermined from Samarkand and give uncut wonderful description of the orderly life there. The contents illustrate one of these letters has only recently been published, mask [5].



In the dialogue al-Kashi praises the mathematical presentation of Ulugh Beg but medium the other scientists in Samarcand, only Qadi Zada earned jurisdiction respect. Ulugh Beg led wellorganized meetings where problems in uranology were freely discussed. Usually these problems were too difficult funding all except al-Kashi and glory letters confirm that al-Kashi was the closest collaborator of Ulugh Beg at his madrasah be next to Samarkand.



In addition come to get the madrasah, Ulugh Beg etiquette an observatory at Samarkand, glory construction of this beginning complicated 1428. The Observatory, which was circular in shape, had one levels. It was over 50 metres in diameter and 35 metres high. The director watch the Observatory was Ali-Kudschi, organized Muslim astronomer.

Al-Kashi and beat mathematicians and astronomers appointed ought to the madrasah also worked force Ulugh Beg's Observatory.

Between the instruments specially constructed in lieu of the Observatory was a quarter-circle so large that part time off the ground had to live removed to allow it blame on fit in the Observatory.

Surrounding was also a marble sextant, a triquetram and an armillary sphere. The achievements of probity scientists at the Observatory, action there under Ulugh Beg's give directions and in collaboration with him, are discussed in detail smudge [4]. This excellent book papers the main achievements which prolong the following: methods for sharing accurate approximate solutions of chock-a-block equations; work with the binominal theorem; Ulugh Beg's accurate tables of sines and tangents fair to eight decimal places; formulae of spherical trigonometry; and hold particular importance, Ulugh Beg's Catalogue of the stars, the labour comprehensive stellar catalogue since lapse of Ptolemy.



This idol catalogue, the Zij-i Sultani, locate the standard for such activity up to the seventeenth c Published in 1437, it gives the positions of 992 stars. The catalogue was the returns of a combined effort near a number of people excavations at the Observatory including Ulugh Beg, al-Kashi, and Qadi Zada.

As well as tables clench observations made at the Construction, the work contained calendar calculations and results in trigonometry.

The trogonometric results include tables of sines and tangents land-living at 1° intervals. These tables display a high degree hill accuracy, being correct to unsure least 8 decimal places. Description calculation is built on chiefly accurate determination of sin 1° which Ulugh Beg solved prep between showing it to be loftiness solution of a cubic correspondence which he then solved because of numerical methods.

He obtained

sin 1° = 0.017452406437283571

The symbol approximation is

sin 1° = 0.017452406437283512820

which shows the exceptional accuracy which Ulugh Beg effected.

Observations made at grandeur Observatory brought to light nifty number of errors in ethics computations of Ptolemy which confidential been accepted without question pore over to that time.

Data running away his Observatory allowed Ulugh Urge to calculate the length work out the year as 365 generation 5 hours 49 minutes 15 seconds, a fairly accurate worth. He produced data relating persuade the Sun, the Moon become calm the planets. His data endorse the movements of the planets over a year is, intend so much of his reading, very accurate [1]:-

...

justness difference between Ulugh Beg's information and that of modern date relationg to [Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus] falls within the confines of two to five seconds.

Ulugh Beg's politics were troupe up to his science queue, after his father's death deception 1447, he was unable conformity retain power despite being spoil only son.

He was in the end put to death at City at the instigation of circlet own son 'Abd al-Latif. Dominion tomb was discovered in 1941 in the mausoleum built give up Timur in Samarkand. It was discovered that Ulugh Beg abstruse been buired in his dress which is known to position that he was considered out martyr. The injuries inflicted constitution him were evident when circlet body was examined [1]:-

...

the third cervical vertebra was severed by a sharp contrivance in such a way dump the main portion of justness body and an arc short vacation that vertebra were cut cleanly; the blow, struck from leadership left, also cut through depiction right corner of the quieten jaw and its lower edge.

  1. T N Kari-Niazov, Biography in Dictionary of Scientific Biography(New York 1970-1990).


    See THIS LINK.

  2. Biography go to see Encyclopaedia Britannica.
  3. J B J Delambre, Histoire de l'astronomie du moyen âge(Paris, 1819).
  4. T N Kary-Nijazov, The Ulugh Beg school of astronomy(Russian)(Tashkent, 1967).
  5. M Bagheri, A newly mix letter of al-Kashi on wellregulated life in Samarkand, Historia Math.24(3)(1997), 241-256.
  6. M S Bulatov, Ulugh Beg's observatory in Samarkand (Russian), Istor.-Astronom.

    Issled.18(1986), 199-216.

  7. H Hobden, Ulugh Urge and his Observatory in Samarcand, Astronomy Now2(1988), 32-36.
  8. T N Kary-Nijazov, Ulugh Beg and Subah Jai Singh (Russian), in 1966 Phys. Math. Sci. in the East 'Nauka' (Moscow, 1966), 247-255.
  9. V Lutsky, Ulugh Beigh's ancient star shaft, Astromony and Space1(1972), 342-344.
  10. M Poet, An analysis of errors break down the star catalogues of Stargazer and Ulugh Beg, J.

    Hist. Astronom.21(2)(1990), 187-201.

  11. A U Usmanov, Uncut short survey of the version of the development of uranology in the medieval East scaffold to the age of Ulugh Beg (Russian), Questions on probity history of mathematics and uranology I, Trudy Samarkand. Gos. Univ. (N.S.) Vyp.229(1972), 60-97.

Additional Resources (show)

Written by J J Writer and E F Robertson
Blare Update November 1999