Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī Biography

Al-Khwarizmi was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, and geographer who lived during the Abbasid Caliphate which was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. A scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, his contribution to the field of mathematics, especially algebra, has been phenomenal. He was considered the original inventor of algebra by the scholars in Renaissance Europe though later it became known that his work is based on older Indian or Greek sources. But the fact that the word “Algebra” is derived from ‘al-jabr’, one of the two operations he used to solve quadratic equations is a testimonial to the role he played in the development of this particular field of mathematics. Some of his work was based on Persian and Babylonian astronomy, Indian numbers, and Greek mathematics and he was known for his systematic approach to solving linear and quadratic equations. Apart from mathematics, he was also highly skilled and knowledgeable in the fields of astronomy and geography. He corrected and revised Ptolemy's data for Africa and the Middle East, and also wrote on the subject of astrology. His works also include a treatise on the Hebrew calendar in which he describes the 19-year intercalation cycle