Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
Optics + the scientific method
11th-century Arab polymath born in Basra; worked in Cairo.
Bragged he could regulate the Nile's flooding; when the caliph called his bluff, he faked insanity for a decade to avoid execution. Used the house arrest to write the Book of Optics — the first work to insist science needs controlled experiments AND mathematical proof. Modern science quietly starts with him.
Famous for
- Book of Optics (Kitāb al-Manāẓir)
- Modern theory of vision
- Pioneered controlled experimentation
- Camera obscura analysis
In Rubicon
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) is one of the historical characters you can play as in Rubicon, a trivia game where you answer in your own words and an AI judge reads what you meant. Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) is filed under Natural Sciences, and is strongest at Natural Sciences.
Others in Natural Sciences
- Isaac Newton — Laws of motion + calculus
- Marie Curie — Pioneered radioactivity
- Pythagoras — The Pythagorean theorem
- Euclid — Father of geometry
- Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi — Founder of algebra
- Hypatia of Alexandria — Alexandria's last great scholar