Mu˒ayyad al-Dīn ibn Barmak al-˓Urḍī al-Dimashqī (thirteenth century) was an astronomer, architect, and engineer. He was born in Damascus and first worked in Syria. He did some hydraulic engineering in Damascus and constructed an astronomical instrument for the ruler of Hims (Emessa), al-Manṣūr Ibrāhīm (1239–1245). He also taught handasa (architecture or geometry).
In or soon after 1259, he was in Maragha, the capital of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan. He was one of the four astronomers who worked with Naṣīr al-Dīn al-ṭūsi, the founder of the Maragha observatory. He participated in the organization, building, and construction of the instruments of this observatory and in the building of a mosque and a palace in Maragha.
The best known al-˓Urdī’s work is Risāla fī kayfiyya al-arṣād wa mā yukhtāj ilā˓ilmihi wa˓amalihi min al-ṭuruq al-muwaddiya ilā ma˓rifa˓awdāt al-kawākib(Modes of Astronomical Observations and the Theoretical and Practical Knowledge...
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Rosenfeld, B.A. (2016). Al-˓Urḍī. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_9304
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