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Scholar · 973 to c. 1050

al-Biruni

Astronomer and mathematician who travelled with Mahmud of Ghazni and wrote a careful study of India. He measured the earth's radius from a hill at Nandana in today's Punjab, Pakistan.

At a glance

Lived
973 to c. 1050
Role
Scholar
Era
Three caliphs at once
Chapter
4. Al-Andalus and the Subcontinent

al-Biruni's world

1000: Three caliphs at once

From 929 to 1031 three rulers called themselves caliph: the Abbasid in Baghdad, the Fatimid in Cairo and the Umayyad in Cordoba. In the east, Mahmud of Ghazni led seventeen campaigns into India between 1001 and 1027.

People of the same era

Dates for early figures are often approximate. Spotted a mistake? Tell us