Scholar · c. 780 to 850
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
A scholar at the House of Wisdom whose book on al-jabr gave algebra its name. His own name, through Latin, gave us the word algorithm.
At a glance
- Lived
- c. 780 to 850
- Role
- Scholar
- Era
- The Abbasid golden age
- Chapter
- 3. The Abbasids, the Crusades and the Mongols
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi's world
800: The Abbasid golden age
The Abbasids built a new capital at Baghdad in 762. Under Harun al-Rashid and al-Ma'mun, the House of Wisdom translated Greek, Persian and Indian science into Arabic, and al-Khwarizmi wrote the book that gave algebra its name. The four Sunni schools of law took shape in these years.
People of the same era
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