Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar

Medieval Arab mathematician

Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar (786–833 CE) was a mathematician and translator.

Biography

Almost nothing is known about his life, except that he was active in Baghdad, then the capital of the ʿAbbāsid Empire.

He was the first author who translated Euclid's Elements from Greek into Arabic. His first translation was made for Yaḥyā ibn Khālid, the Vizier of Caliph Hārūn al‐Rashīd. He made a second, improved, more concise translation for the Caliph al-Maʾmūn (813–833). Around 829, he translated Ptolemy's Almagest, which at that time had also been translated by Hunayn Ibn Ishaq and Sahl al-Ṭabarī.

At the beginning of the 12th century CE, Adelard of Bath translated al-Ḥajjāj's version of Euclid's Elements into Latin.

References

Busard, B.L.L. (1983). The First Translation of Euclid's "Elements" Commonly Ascribes to Adelard of Bath, Books I–VIII and Books X.36–XV.2. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies.
Gandz, Solomon (1936). "The Sources of al-Khowārizmī's Algebra". Osiris. 1: 263–277. doi:10.1086/368426. ISSN 0369-7827. JSTOR 301610.
Sarton, George. Introduction to the History of Science.

External links

Brentjes, Sonja (2007). "Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar". In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 460–1. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version)

Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world

Astronomers

by century
8th	Ahmad Nahavandi Al-Fadl ibn Naubakht Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī Mashallah ibn Athari Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq
9th	Abu Ali al-Khayyat Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi Abu Said Gorgani Al-Farghani Al-Kindi Al-Mahani Abu Hanifa Dinawari Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf Al-Marwazi Ali ibn Isa al-Asturlabi Banū Mūsā brothers Iranshahri Khalid ibn Abd al‐Malik al‐Marwarrudhi Al-Khwarizmi Sahl ibn Bishr Thābit ibn Qurra Yahya ibn Abi Mansur
10th	al-Sufi Ibn Al-Adami al-Khojandi al-Khazin al-Qūhī Abu al-Wafa Ahmad ibn Yusuf al-Battani Al-Qabisi Ibn al-A'lam Al-Nayrizi Al-Saghani Aṣ-Ṣaidanānī Ibn Yunus Ibrahim ibn Sinan Ma Yize al-Sijzi Al-ʻIjliyyah Nastulus Abolfadl Harawi Haseb-i Tabari al-Majriti Abu al-Hasan al-Ahwazi
11th	Abu Nasr Mansur al-Biruni Ali ibn Ridwan Al-Zarqālī Ibn al-Samh Alhazen Avicenna Ibn al-Saffar Kushyar Gilani Said al-Andalusi Ibrahim ibn Said al-Sahli Ibn Mu'adh al-Jayyani Al-Isfizari Ali ibn Khalaf
12th	Al-Bitruji Avempace Ibn Tufail Al-Kharaqī Al-Khazini Al-Samawal al-Maghribi Abu al-Salt Averroes Ibn al-Kammad Jabir ibn Aflah Omar Khayyam Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi
13th	Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili Jamal ad-Din Alam al-Din al-Hanafi Najm al‐Din al‐Misri Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi Zakariya al-Qazwini al-Urdi al-Abhari Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al‐Farisi Abu Ali al-Hasan al-Marrakushi Ibn Ishaq al-Tunisi Ibn al‐Raqqam Al-Ashraf Umar II Fakhr al-Din al-Akhlati
14th	Ibn al-Shatir Al-Khalili Ibn Shuayb al-Battiwi Abū al‐ʿUqūl Al-Wabkanawi Nizam al-Din al-Nisapuri al-Jadiri Sadr al-Shari'a al-Asghar Fathullah Shirazi
15th	Ali Kuşçu Abd al‐Wajid Jamshid al-Kashi Kadızade Rumi Ulugh Beg Sibt al-Maridini Ibn al-Majdi al-Wafa'i al-Kubunani 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Wafa'i
16th	Al-Birjandi al-Khafri Baha' al-din al-'Amili Piri Reis Takiyüddin
17th	Yang Guangxian Ehmedê Xanî Al Achsasi al Mouakket Muhammad al-Rudani

Topics

Works

Arabic star names Islamic calendar Aja'ib al-Makhluqat Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity Tabula Rogeriana The Book of Healing The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries
Zij	Alfonsine tables Huihui Lifa Book of Fixed Stars Toledan Tables Zij-i Ilkhani Zij-i Sultani Sullam al-sama'

Instruments

Concepts

Institutions

Influences

Influenced

Mathematics in the medieval Islamic world

Mathematicians

9th century	'Abd al-Hamīd ibn Turk Sanad ibn Ali al-Jawharī Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf Al-Kindi Qusta ibn Luqa Al-Mahani al-Dinawari Banū Mūsā brothers Hunayn ibn Ishaq Al-Khwarizmi Yusuf al-Khuri Ishaq ibn Hunayn Na'im ibn Musa Thābit ibn Qurra al-Marwazi Abu Said Gorgani
10th century	Abu al-Wafa al-Khazin Al-Qabisi Abu Kamil Ahmad ibn Yusuf Aṣ-Ṣaidanānī Sinān ibn al-Fatḥ al-Khojandi Al-Nayrizi Al-Saghani Brethren of Purity Ibn Sahl Ibn Yunus al-Uqlidisi Al-Battani Sinan ibn Thabit Ibrahim ibn Sinan Al-Isfahani Nazif ibn Yumn al-Qūhī Abu al-Jud Al-Sijzi Al-Karaji al-Majriti al-Jabali
11th century	Abu Nasr Mansur Alhazen Kushyar Gilani Al-Biruni Ibn al-Samh Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi Avicenna al-Jayyānī al-Nasawī al-Zarqālī ibn Hud Al-Isfizari Omar Khayyam Muhammad al-Baghdadi
12th century	Jabir ibn Aflah Al-Kharaqī Al-Khazini Al-Samawal al-Maghribi al-Hassar Sharaf al-Din al-Tusi Ibn al-Yasamin
13th century	Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili Ahmad al-Buni Ibn Munim Alam al-Din al-Hanafi Ibn Adlan al-Urdi Nasir al-Din al-Tusi al-Abhari Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi al-Hasan al-Marrakushi Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi Shams al-Din al-Samarqandi Ibn al-Banna' Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī
14th century	Nizam al-Din al-Nisapuri Ibn al-Shatir Ibn al-Durayhim Al-Khalili al-Umawi
15th century	Ibn al-Majdi al-Rūmī al-Kāshī Ulugh Beg Ali Qushji al-Wafa'i al-Qalaṣādī Sibt al-Maridini Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi
16th century	Al-Birjandi Muhammad Baqir Yazdi Taqi ad-Din Ibn Hamza al-Maghribi Ahmad Ibn al-Qadi