Abu Rayhan Biruni

Biruni was fluent in several languages such as Khawrazmi, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit, and was familiar with ancient Greek, Torah Hebrew, and Syriac, and had translated a number of books from Hindi into Arabic, including, Siddhanta, Al-Mawalid al-Saghir, and Kalbiyara. He has also translated stories from Persian to Arabic. Among these stories, we can name Shadbehr (Hadith of Qasim Al-Sarwar), ‘Ain Al-Hayat, The Story of Urmazdiar and Mahryar, as well as the story of Sorkh-bot and Khang-bot.

Abu Rayhan Biruni had done a number of research on various issues and has many inventions to his credit the most important of his research works and inventions include: A scales for measuring the specific gravity of solids and also determining the amount of gold and silver in composite objects; Artesian Well; the physical properties of diamonds and emeralds, the possibility of vacuum, making a geographical sphere and, etc. There are many buildings, squares, foundations, associations, universities, sculptures, etc. in his name in Iran and the world. In June 2009, a building was made in the form of a chahartaq, which is a combination of Achaemenid and Islamic architectural styles and decorations, was placed within the area of the United Nations Office in Vienna, housing the statues of four Iranian philosophers, i.e., Khayyam, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Zakaria Razi, and Abu Ali Sina (Avicenna).

Biruni was a contemporary of Abu Ali Sina and they corresponded and exchanged ideas with one another. Abu Rayhan Biruni passed away on December 13, 1048 CE in Ghazni, Afghanistan.