Muhammad Ibn Musa Al –Khwarizmi

 Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Musa al Khwarizmi was born at Khwarizm, a town of south of river Oxus in present Uzbekistan, a Muslim country for over thousand years, was taken over by Russia in 1973.
Al Khwarizmi was one of greatest mathematician who ever lived. He was the founder of several branches and basic concept of mathematics. He was also famous as an astronomer and geographer. Al Khwarizmi influence mathematical thought to a greater extend that any other medieval writer. He is recognized as the founder of Algebra, as he not only initiated the subject in a systematic form but also developed it to extent of giving analytical equations of linear and quadratic equations. The name Algebra derived from his famous book Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah. He developed in detail trigonometric tables containing the sin functions, which were later extrapolated to tangent functions. Al-Khwarizmi also developed the calculus of two errors, which led him to the concept of differentiation. He also refined the geometric representation of conic sections. The influence of Al-Khwarizmi on the growth of mathematics, astronomy and geography is well established in history.
His approach was systematic and logical, and not only did he bring together the then prevailing knowledge on various branches of science, but also enriched it through his original contribution. He synthesized Greek and Hindu knowledge and also contained his own contribution of fundamental importance to mathematics and science.
He adopted the use of zero, a numeral of fundamental importance, leading up to the so-called arithmetic of positions and the decimal system. His pioneering work on the system of numerals is well known as “Algorithm”.
In addition to an important to a treatise on Astronomy, al-Khwarizmi wrote a book on astronomical tables. Several his books translated in Latin in the early 12^th century by Adeard of Bath and Gerard of Cremona. The treatises on Arithmetic, Kitab al-Jam’swal-Tafreeq bil Hisab al-Hindi, and the one on Algebra, Al-Muqala fi Hisab-al jabr wa-al-Muqabila, are known only from Latin translations. It was this later translation which introduced the new science to the west “unknown till then”. This book was used until the 16^th century as the principal mathematical text book in European universities. His astronomical tables were also translated into European languages and later into Chinese.
The contribution of al-Khwarizmi to geography is also outstanding. He not only revised Ptolemy’s view on geography, but also corrected them in detail. Seventy geographers worked under his leadership and they produced the first map of the globe in 830 C.E .He also reported to have collaborated in the degree measurements order by Khalifa Mamun Al-Rashid for measuring volume and circumference of the earth. His geography book entitled “Kitab Surat-al-Ard”, including maps, was also translated.