A Critical Edition of Ibn al-Haytham’s On the Shape of the Eclipse: The First Experimental Study of the Camera ObscuraThis book provides the first critical edition of Ibn al-Haytham’s On the Shape of the Eclipse with English translation and commentary, which records the first scientific analysis of the camera obscura. On the Shape of the Eclipse includes pioneering research on the conditions of formation of the image, in a time deemed to be committed to aniconism. It also provides an early attempt to merge the two branches of Ancient optics—the theory of light and theory of vision. What perhaps most strongly characterizes this treatise is the close interaction of a geometric analysis of light and experimental reasoning. Ibn al-Haytham conducted his experiments in a systematic way by varying all that could be changed: the shape and size of the aperture, the focal length of the camera obscura, the distance and shape of the celestial bodies. This way, he achieved a thorough understanding. This work represents a decisive step in both the history of optics and the application of the experimental method that was just as efficient in medieval Islam as today. |
Contents
1 | |
7 | |
2
Arabic Text and Translation | 28 |
3
Ibn alHaythams Method | 79 |
4
Ibn alHaythams Optical Analysis | 113 |
Appendix31
A Tentative Dating of Ibn alHaythams | 161 |
References | 187 |
204 | |
213 | |
ArabicEnglish Glossary | 225 |
Table of Figures | 239 |
Plates | 244 |
Other editions - View all
A Critical Edition of Ibn al-Haytham’s On the Shape of the Eclipse: The ... Dominique Raynaud No preview available - 2016 |
A Critical Edition of Ibn Al-Haytham's on the Shape of the Eclipse: The ... Dominique Raynaud No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
Abū ADǦ agreement in fem al-Ḥasan ibn al-Kindī Alhacen Almagest angle aperture apex appear crescent-shaped Arabic arc ABǦ arc KNM arc ŠFḪ astronomical axis Baghdād Baṣra Cairo camera obscura Commentary concavity cone convex crescent-shaped figure crescent-shaped image Critical Edition darkroom Diagram diameter endpoint equal to line fem sing focal distance follows the fem geometric history of optics Ibn al-Haytham Kamāl Kitāb KLMN Levi ben Gerson line FT line NF Lºs magnitude manuscripts Maqāla marg Moon Naẓīf Optics ºr cº patch of light perimeter of light pinhole plane parallel Plate point F point of arc Problemata Physica projection plane radius ratio Raynaud Sabra Sciences self-luminous body self-luminous crescent semi-diameter Shape solar eclipse straight line Sun’s surface tangent translation verb follows Wiedemann نا