Flourished 10th century
Nasṭūlus is credited with constructing two astrolabes. The first, dated 927/928, is considered the oldest surviving astrolabe (though not the first ever constructed). This elegant instrument is preserved in the Kuwait Museum of Islamic Art. It has a single plate (for latitudes 33° and 36°) on the back of which are four quadrant scales and a shadow scale. The throne bears the inscription, “Made by Nasṭūlus (or Basṭūlus) in the year 315.” The second astrolabe, of which only the mater is still extant, bears no date but was probably constructed around 312 hijra (925). It is preserved in the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo; the inscription “Made by Nasṭūlus” appears on the throne. It contains the earliest and only geographical list to appear on an instrument before circa 1100. The purpose of the gazetteer on the mater is evidently to show which plates should be used in different cities. Most of the latitudes included are derived from Khwārizmī's geographical table,...
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Selected References
Ibn al‐Nadīm (1970). The Fihrist of al‐Nadīm: A Tenth‐Century Survey of Muslim Culture, edited and translated by Bayard Dodge. 2 Vols. New York: Columbia University Press, Vol. 2, p. 671.
King, David A. (1978). “A Note on the Astrolabist Nas†ūlus/Bas†ūlus.” Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 28: 117–120. (Reprinted in King, Islamic Astronomical Instruments, IV. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987.)
——— (1990). The Earliest Islamic Astrolabes (Tenth to Eleventh Centuries). Preprint, pp. 16–22.
——— (1995). “Early Islamic Astronomical Instruments in Kuwaiti Collections.” In Kuwait – Arts and Architecture—A Collection of Essays, edited by Arlene Fullerton and Géza Fehérvári, pp. 76–96. Kuwait. Oriental press, UAE.
——— (1999). “Bringing Astronomical Instruments Back to Earth: The Geographical Data on Medieval Astrolabes (to ca. 1100).” In Between Demonstration and Imagination: Essays in the History of Science and Philosophy presented to John D. North, edited by Lodi Nauta and Arjo Vanderjagt, pp. 3–53, esp. pp. 9, 10, 11, 22, 29, 35, 39. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
King, David A. and Paul Kunitzsch (1983). “Nas†ūlus the Astrolabist Once Again.” Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 33: 342–343. (Reprinted in King, Islamic Astronomical Instruments, V. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987.)
Maddison, Francis and Alain Brieux (1974). “Bas†ūlus or Nas†ūlus? A Note on the Name of an Early Islamic Astrolabist.” Archives internationales d'histoire des sciences 24: 157–160.
Sezgin, Fuat (1978). Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol. 6, Astronomie, pp. 178–179. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
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Rius, M. (2007). Nasṭūlus: Muḥammad ibn ҁAbd Allāh. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_1000
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