Birth of Al-Biruni

Al-Biruni was born on 4 September 973 CE in Kath. A Persian scholar and polymath of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Biruni was born in Khwarazm in Central Asia and worked at courts in the region, including that of Mahmud of Ghazni. He wrote on astronomy, mathematics, geography, history, pharmacology and comparative religion, and his surviving works include the Chronology of Ancient Nations and the Canon Masudicus. He spent years in India, learning Sanskrit and writing a detailed study of Indian culture and science, the Kitab al-Hind. He measured the radius of the Earth with a remarkably accurate method, and he discussed the possibility that the Earth rotates on its axis.

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