Omar Khayyám

Omar Khayyam, scholar, mathematician, astronomer, brilliant poet, philosopher of the Muslim East and one of the most outstanding figures of his epoch, was born in 1048 in Neyshapur. He made a great contribution in to mathematics and astronomy.

Omar Khayyam spent his childhood in Neyshapur. He lost his parents when he was 16. This occasion made him leave a motherland and move to Samarkand. That time, Samarkand was a famous cultural and scientific center, where gathered scholars from all corners of the East. Favorable political atmosphere of Samarkand promoted work and inventions of great scientists. He worked as a teacher in madras in Samarkand for some time. That time he wrote his Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra and Allucabbala. He moved to Bukhara after four years and lived there for 10 years. During that period he finished one of his famous works – Four Treatises on Mathematics. His works in the field of math offer a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle.

Scholars of that period traveled a lot, frequently lived and worked in different countries. Thus, Omar Khayyam was invited by Sultan Melik-shah to Ispahan city in 1074. Khayyam became his teacher. Later, he was appointed to a post of Chief of the Ispahan Observatory. He worked with other scientists of Ispahan and created a star catalogue in this observatory. In 1077, Khayyam completed his book Notes on complex postulates of Euclid’s book.

But in 1092, after Sultan’s death, Omar Khayyam had to leave Ispahan city. His last years he spent in his native city Neyshapur and was buried there in 1123.

Omar Khayyam is known throughout the world as a great poet. His famous quatrains (rubaai’s) are pearls of the mediaeval poetry. His verses touch every chord of the man’s soul. They stay vital at all times. His poetry was translated into English by poet Edward FitzGerald and became popular in Europe. Some rubaai’s were set to music.