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unusual facts about Ali ibn Isa al-Asturlabi


Ali ibn Isa al-Asturlabi

During the reign of al-Ma'mun, and together with Khālid ibn ʿAbd al‐Malik al‐Marwarrūdhī, he participated in an expedition to the Plain of Sinjar to measure the length of a degree, or the circumference of the Earth.


Al-Saghani

Abu Hamid Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Saghani al-Asturlabi (meaning the astrolabe maker of Saghan, near Merv) was a Persian astronomer and historian of science.

Khālid ibn ʿAbd al‐Malik al‐Marwarrūdhī

Together with ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā al-Asṭurlābī in 827, he measured at 35 degrees north latitude, in the valley of the Tigris, the length of a meridian arc and thus the Earth's circumference, getting a result of 40,248 km (or, according to other sources, 41,436 km).


see also