Erlangen 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Aktualisierungen | Downloads | Hilfe

GP: Fachverband Geschichte der Physik

GP 7: Practices and Experiments

GP 7.2: Vortrag

Mittwoch, 18. März 2026, 14:15–14:45, KH 02.019

Experiments on the Propagation of Light: Taqi al-Din al-Rasid and His Source Ibn al-Haytham — •Sena Aydin — Istanbul Medeniyet University Institute for the History of Science, Istanbul, Turkey

Taqi al-Din al-Rasid (d. 1585) is regarded as the leading figure of optical science in the classical Ottoman period. Containing forty-nine experimental setups, his book on optics may be considered an experimental manual. One of its principal sources is Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1040), who, by combining physical and mathematical methods in the history of science, established the method of experimental verification. In doing so, he brought about a major transformation in optical studies and fundamentally changed how natural philosophers produced scientific knowledge. The experiments of Taqi al-Din on the propagation of light include observations such as the perception of objects by the eye along straight lines; the formation of a conical structure by light as it travels between the eye and the object; the observation that light spreads in a straight direction through smoky air; the spherical propagation of light from every point of a luminous source toward all opposite directions; and the creation of secondary lights as rays from primary sources reflect off surfaces. This study aims to present examples of replicas of experiments of Taqi al-Din on the propagation of light, produced within the framework of our project, and to analyze these experiments in comparison with those of his primary source, Ibn al-Haytham.

Keywords: Light; optics; Ibn al-Haytham; Taqi al-Din