Circa 780-Circa 850
Mathematician

Algebra. An Arab, Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khawarizmi spent most of his life in Baghdad. He served on the faculty at the famous Dar al-Hikma (House of Wisdom), where he not only translated scientific and mathematical documents from Greek, Sanskrit, and Hebrew into Arabic but also taught mathematics and astronomy. His most important known work was the Kitab al-jabr iva al-muqabalah (Large Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, circa 833), the earliest compendium of algebra and geometry in Arabic. His compiling of all known algebraic, geometric, and numeral resources into one volume in Arabic created the first textbook containing practical ways to make calculations for construction, surveying, and the complex system of Islamic distribution of family inheritance. The catalyst for popularizing al-jabr (algebra, meaning "completion" in Arabic), al-Khawarizmi's book was studied in the Islamic mosque-universities in Djenne, Timbuktu...