al-Biruni

10 Jun, 2010 900 History

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Central Asian polymath al-Biruni and his eleventh-century book the India.Born in around 973 in the central Asian region of Chorasmia, al-Biruni became an itinerant scholar of immense learning, a master of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and many languages. He corresponded with the age’s greatest scientist, Avicenna, and made significant contributions to many fields of knowledge.In 1017 al-Biruni became a member of the court of the ruler Mahmud of Ghazna. Over the course of the next thirteen years he wrote the India, a comprehensive account of Hindu culture which was the first book about India by a Muslim scholar. It contains detailed information about Hindu religion, science and everyday life which have caused some to call it the first work of anthropology.

Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

  • James Montgomery 4 episodes
    Professor of Classical Arabic at the University of Cambridge
  • Hugh Kennedy 11 episodes
    Professor of Arabic in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
  • Amira Bennison 10 episodes
    Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge

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Programme ID: b00smnlk

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00smnlk

Auto-category: 900 (History & Geography)

Hello (First sentence from this episode) Hello, if you were to point a reasonably powerful telescope at the surface of the moon at latitude 17.9 degrees, longitude 92.5 degrees, you'll find yourself looking at the al-Biruni crater.