Tomb of Omar Khayyam – Nishapur
Omar Khayyam was born on 18 May 1048, in a family of tent makers (al-Khayyam, hence his name suggests). His full name was Ghiyas Uddin Abu Fateh Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam Nishapuri. He received his intial education in Samarkand (Uzbekistan).
Omar Khayyam was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physician, and a celebrated poet. He was acknowledged as the author of the most important treatise on algebra before modern times. Omar Khayyam has written about a thousand four-line verses or quatrains. He was invited to come to Isfahan where he produced a new calendar called, Jalali calendar – it was adopted in 1075 by Malik-Shah (then, a ruler of Iran).
In Europe, Omar is famous for his robaiyat and his work is translated in many languages. He developed a method for accurate determination of the specific gravity – he wrote two books in metaphysics, ‘Risala Dar Wujud’ and ‘Norooz Namah’. The books which have survived from Omar’s writings are, four books on mathematics, one on algebra, one on geometry, three on physics, and three books on metaphysics.
