The works of al-Kashi

Ghiyath aI-DIn Jamshid al-Kashi, an eminent Iranian mathematician and astrono­mer of the 15th century, left his birthplace Kashan for Samarkand in A.D. 1421 and joined the scientific circle of Ulugh Beg.

He is a scientist at an observatory and learning center established in Samarkand by the prince Ulugh Beg, a grandson of the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane.

Al-Kashi worked at many areas of science —astronomy, algebra and geometry. The first known scientific event in Al-Kashi’s life is his observation of an eclipse of the moon, made in Kashan on June 2, 1406. The day is precise, since Al-Kashi dated many of his works with the exact date on which they were completed.

In 1407, the scientist completed a work, named ‘Sullam Al-sama’. The full title of the work means The Stairway of Heaven, on Resolution of Difficulties Met by Predecessors in the Determination of Distances and Sizes (of the heavenly bodies).

In 1410-1411, he wrote Mukhtasar dar ilm-i hay’at-Compendium of the science of astronomy dedicated to Sultan Iskandar, one of the rulers of Timurid dynasty.

In 1413-1414, al-Kashi wrote Khaqani zij and dedicated it to Ulugh Beg. In the introduction of this book al-Kashi complains about living in poverty while working on mathematics and astronomy, and he says he could not have completed this work without Ulugh Beg’s support.

Kashi’s work “Nuzhat al-hada’iq’ completed in 1416, described an instrument ‘tabaq al-manatiq’ (equatorium) used for the determination ofthe position of the planets (longitude and latitude) on the ecliptic and a second instrument ‘lauh al-ittisalat’, used to compute the conjunctions of the planets.

On March 2, 1427, Al-Kashi completed a monumental book in Arabicon arithmetic called Mift ̄ah al-his ̄ab. His book Mift ̄ah al-his ̄ab (Key to Arithmetic) provides sufficient knowledge of mathematics for those who are working on astronomy, surveying, architecture, accounting and trading.

Al-Kashi provided accurate trigonometric tables. He also expressed the theorem in a suitable form for the modern usage. In French, the law of cosines in named theorem d'Al-Kashi after al-kashi unification of the exiting works on the subject.

All great discoveries of Al-Kashi were unknown in Europe and only in the 19th and 20thcenturies they were studied by the historians of science.
The works of al-Kashi

Eric Drexler and nanotechnology revolution

Norio Taniguchi introduced the term ‘nanotechnology’ in 1974 and Eric Drexler popularized it in his much debated book, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology.

Drexler was born in Oakland, California, on April 25, 1955. When he entered MIT, Drexler was interested primarily in the subject of space travel and the possibility of establishing human civilization in space. It was Drexler who is most accredited with pushing the nanotechnology revolution to where it is today by raising public awareness, educating future researchers, and generally expounding upon the field. He was awarded the first PhD in nanotechnology ever.

His book indeed became very popular and excelled in the treatment of promises an potential of nanotechnology.

Drexler envisioned a molecular nanotechnology discipline that would allow manufacturers to fabricate products from the bottom-up with increased molecular control.

Drexler also presented the idea of nanotechnology before a congressional committee in 1992 (Regis, 3).

Drexler claimed that molecular machines could be able to assemble practically everything imaginable in a very short time, provided there is enough raw material, energy and construction plan.

Drexler has written three books, Molecular Engineering: An approach to the development of general capabilities for molecular manipulation (1981), Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (1986), and Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology Revolution (1991)
Eric Drexler and nanotechnology revolution