Abbas Ibn Firnas of Cardoba, Arab Polymath, Mathematics, Mechanics
of Flight, Planetarium, Artificial Crystal, Aviation, Glider MNH
Spain
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Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887 A.D.) was a Muslim Andalusian
polymath: an inventor, engineer, aviator, physician, Arabic poet,
and Andalusian musician. Of Berber descent, he was born in Izn-Rand
Onda, Al-Andalus (today´s Ronda, Spain), and lived in the Emirate
of Córdoba. He is known for an early attempt at aviation. Ibn
Firnas designed a water clock called Al-Maqata, devised a means of
manufacturing colorless glass, invented various glass planispheres,
made corrective lenses (reading stones), devised a chain of rings
that could be used to simulate the motions of the planets and
stars, and developed a process for cutting rock crystal that
allowed Spain to cease exporting quartz to Egypt to be cut.
In his house, he built a room in which spectators witnessed stars,
clouds, thunder, and lightning, which were produced by mechanisms
located in his basement laboratory. He also devised some sort of
metronome.
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