Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s Memoir on Astronomy (al-Tadhkira fī cilm al-hay’a)

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. General Introduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī

      • F. J. Ragep

      Pages 3-23

   3. The Tadhkira

      • F. J. Ragep

      Pages 24-88

3. Edition and Translation

   1. Edition and Translation

      • F. J. Ragep

      Pages 89-341

4. Commentary Figures

   1. Commentary Figures

      • F. J. Ragep

      Pages 343-371

I was introduced to Tiisi: and his Tadhkira some 19 years ago. That first meeting was neither happy nor auspicious. My graduate student notes from the time indicate a certain level of confusion and frustration; I seem to have had trouble with such words as tadwlr (epicycle), which was not to be found in my standard dictionary, and with the concept of solid-sphere astronomy, which, when found, was pooh-poohed in the standard sources. I had another, even more decisive reaction: boredom. Only the end of the term brought relief, and I was grateful to be on to other, more exciting aspects of the history of science. A few years later, I found myself, thanks to fellowships from Fulbright-Hays and the American Research Center in Egypt, happily immersed in the manu­ script collections of Damascus, Aleppo, and Cairo. Though I had intended to work on a topic in the history of mathematics, I was drawn, perhaps inevitably, to a certain type of astronomical writing falling under the rubric of hay' a. At first this fascination was based on sheer numbers; that so many medieval scientists could have written on such a subject must mean something, I told myself. (I was in a sociological mode at the time.

• astronomy
• cosmology
• logic
• mathematics
• proof

• Department of the History of Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA

  F. J. Ragep

Policies and ethics