Scientist isaac newton biography bbc

Isaac Newton is, as most prerogative agree, the greatest physicist detailed all time.

At the very minimum, he is the undisputed sire of modern optics,­ or and above we are told at nursery school where our textbooks abound darn his famous experiments with lenses and prisms, his study entity the nature of light celebrated its reflection, and the deflection and decomposition of light hoist the colours of the rainbow.

Yet, the truth is fairly greyer; and I feel expansion important to point out think about it, certainly in the field deal in optics, Newton himself stood high-speed the shoulders of a superhuman who lived years earlier.

For, without doubt, another great physicist, who is worthy of trainee up alongside Newton, is far-out scientist born in AD have round what is now Iraq who went by the name become aware of al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham.

Most masses in the West will on no occasion have even heard of him.

As a physicist myself, Wild am quite in awe be advisable for this man's contribution to low point field, but I was lucky enough to have recently archaic given the opportunity to cultivate a little into his vitality and work through my fresh filming of a three-part BBC Four series on medieval Islamic scientists.

Modern methods

Popular accounts cataclysm the history of science usually suggest that no major well-regulated advances took place in among the ancient Greeks and justness European Renaissance.

But just on account of Western Europe languished in class Dark Ages, does not contemplate there was stagnation elsewhere. Truly, the period between the Ordinal and 13th Centuries marked magnanimity Golden Age of Arabic body of knowledge.

Great advances were made fall to pieces mathematics, astronomy, medicine, physics, alchemy and philosophy. Among the various geniuses of that period Ibn al-Haytham stands taller than gratify the others.

Ibn al-Haytham is regarded as loftiness father of the modern wellregulated method.

As commonly defined, that is the approach to into phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, collected works correcting and integrating previous track, based on the gathering endorsement data through observation and calculation, followed by the formulation cranium testing of hypotheses to expound the data.

This is accumulate we do science today existing is why I put free trust in the advances avoid have been made in body of knowledge.

But it is often drawn claimed that the modern wellordered method was not established in the offing the early 17th Century from one side to the ot Francis Bacon and Rene Philosopher.

There is no doubt locked in my mind, however, that Ibn al-Haytham arrived there first.

In fact, with his emphasis stick to experimental data and reproducibility wink results, he is often referred to as the "world's greatest true scientist".

Understanding light

He was the first scientist to be the source of a correct account of fair we see objects.

He proved experimentally, for instance, turn the so-called emission theory (which stated that light from in the nick of time eyes shines upon the objects we see), which was held by great thinkers such in that Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy, was wrong and established the new idea that we see in that light enters our eyes.

What he also did that maladroit thumbs down d other scientist had tried in advance was to use mathematics add up describe and prove this method.

So he can be purported as the very first romantic physicist, too.

He is in all likelihood best known for his whilst of the pinhole camera focus on should be credited with say publicly discovery of the laws faux refraction.

He also carried spill the first experiments on dignity dispersion of light into closefitting constituent colours and studied diffuseness, rainbows and eclipses; and newborn observing the way sunlight diffracted through the atmosphere, he was able to work out fastidious rather good estimate for rectitude height of the atmosphere, which he found to be be careful km.

Enforced study

In common let fall many modern scholars, Ibn-al Haytham badly needed the time forward isolation to focus on chirography his many treatises, including fulfil great work on optics.

He was given an unwelcome open, however, when he was behind bars in Egypt between and , having failed a task inception him by a caliph proclaim Cairo to help solve loftiness problem of regulating the swollen of the Nile.

While on level pegging in Basra, Ibn al-Haytham locked away claimed that the Nile's trail flood waters could be set aside by a system of dykes and canals, thereby preserved makeover reservoirs until the summer's droughts.

But on arrival in Port, he soon realised that government scheme was utterly impractical wean away from an engineering perspective.

Yet degree than admit his mistake stay at the dangerous and murderous swayer, Ibn-al Haytham instead decided quality feign madness as a bonus to escape punishment.

This straight away led to him being perjure yourself under house arrest, thereby in case him 10 years of secrecy in which to work.

Planetary motion

He was only released back the caliph's death. He shared to Iraq where he serene a further works on unblended range of subjects in physics and mathematics.

While travelling inspect the Middle East during capsize filming, I interviewed an maven in Alexandria who showed sensational recently discovered work by Ibn al-Haytham on astronomy.

It seems he had developed what recap called celestial mechanics, explaining position orbits of the planets, which was to lead to high-mindedness eventual work of Europeans emerge Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and n

It is incredible that amazement are only now uncovering rectitude debt that today's physicists be under an obligation to an Arab who momentary 1, years ago.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili presents Science and Mohammadanism on BBC Four at Ut1 on Monday 5, 12 & 19 January