مجله تاریخ علم
سال ششم شماره 2 (پیاپی 7، پاییز و زمستان 1387)

The “ManāzirvaMarāyā” manuscript of Qāsim-Alī Al-Qāyinī (ca. 1097 A.H.) is considered by some studies as an interesting manuscript in the history of Islamic optics which is necessary to examine and introduce. At first Al-Qāyinī has defined the scope of “Elmemanzir” and expressed its principles and theorems from the perspectives of Euclid and Kindi and based on them has defined aspects like shadows, day and night and others. Among the aspects expressed in this manuscript, Al-Qāyinī has explained an experiment in which two light sources combine their light. He has then described a burning instrument and explained how to build another instrument by a combination of mirrors to keep a point of a room bright throughout the day. Among other optical phenomena he has explained the rainbow, the moon’s halo, the dark room, the field of view in flat mirrors and the refraction of light. This manuscript has been written under the influence of Ibn Al-Haytham, Euclid, Galen and Kamal Al-Din Al-Farsi.

During the third/ninth century, several commentators on Euclid’s Elements composed blocks of propositions (called ziyādāt) in which they expanded specific concepts or techniques beyond the basic discussions of Euclid. Among the earliest of these ziyādāt were three propositions created by al-‘Abbās b. Sa‘īd al-Jawharī in an attempt to demonstrate the validity of Euclid’s definitions V, 5 and V, 7. A unique manuscript of a Persian translation of these propositions has recently been discovered. In this paper, I introduce this Persian text, offer an English translation, and discuss the relationship between the Persian and Arabic versions.

The rapid progress in basic sciences and the quick changes in the ways of life in the 19th and 20th centuries led to the possibility and necessity of applying new technologies in the production of different materials. This paper deals with the noticeable development of chemical industries in Europe and America in this period. Meanwhile, it focuses on the relevant process in Czech Lands. The impact of the first and the second world wars on such trends are also considered.

Nature displays profound preference for certain specific ratios to design her life-forms. These are geometric relationships that are transcendent and originated from Sacred Geometry. The view that geometry had a ritual origin is a part of a wider view that civilisation itself had a ritual origin, and therefore the history of utilisation of Sacred Geometry by man goes back to many centuries ago. The Pythagorean tradition, and the Egyptian and Babylonian sciences from which it derived, and Persian mathematics, a part of which reflects a Pythagorean intellectuality, are based on the sacred conception of numbers and their symbolism. In the traditional world, geometry was inseparable from the other sciences of the Pythagorean Quadrivium, namely arithmetic (numbers), music and astronomy. Traditional geometry is related to the symbolic configurations of space. Geometric forms such as the triangle, square and various regular polygons, the spiral and the circle are seen in the traditional perspective to be, like traditional numbers, as aspects of the multiplicity of the Unity.Architecture itself has always had a sacred meaning to all traditional civilisations through millennia, by which means man has tried to provide for himself a manifestation of heavens. Persian architecture always emphasised on Beauty, and by means of Sacred Geometry Persians measured the proportions of heaven and reflected them in the dimensions of buildings on the earth. A comprehensive utilisation of proportions in Persian architecture, such as in the design of plans, elevations, geometric and architectural patterns, and mechanical and structural features, can be proved through geometrical analysis of Persian historical buildings.In this paper, the sacred conception of geometry and its symbolism in the Pythagorean tradition, and Sacred Geometry and proportions in natural life-forms will be explained. The use of the science of geometry in design of a number of Persian historical buildings will be presented. The geometric factors upon which the design of these buildings, from both architectural and structural viewpoints, is made will be discussed.

Fretting the string instruments typically constitutes one of the major issues of Islamic-Iranian old music treatises. In the Systematist School which pays special attention to mathematics, this subject has been so meticulously discussed and addressed. ‘Abd al-QādirMarāghī (d. 838 A.H. /1434 A.D.) who is one of the most outstanding and prominent musicians of this school expounding the opinions of Safī al-DīnUrmawī (d. 693 A.H./1294 A.D.), has explained string insatruments’ fretting in the second chapters of the books, Jāmi‘ al-alḥān, Maqāsid al-alḥān and Sharḥ-i adwār that are all his important compilations dealing with music. Marāghī has mentioned various methods, which are mainly based on Safī al-Dīn’s views, for determining the ratio between the notes, yet he has also contributed several novel points himself, the most important of which is the different ways of calculating the ratio of the 17th note. In this paper, attempt has been made to express and analyze Marāghī’s ideas through his own treatises, mainly autographs.

Karajī (d. about. 1029 A.D.) has introduced and explained the leveling instruments which was used at that time, in his book Inbāt al-Mīāh al-khafyyat (Exploration for hidden water). Added to the four studied leveling instruments, Karajī introduces two more; “scaled vertical level” and “scaled telescopic level” which he mentions as his own inventions. In this paper after presenting these first four, the two surveys have been studied emphasizing on Karaji’s calibration method and some examples of their application.