Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf al-Shami al-Asadi (Arabic: تقي الدين محمد بن معروف الشامي السعدي) (c.1526 - 1585) was one of the most notable scientists in the Muslim world. He is the author of several important texts on astronomy, astrology, optics, and clocks. One of his books, Al-Turuq al-saniyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines), described the workings of a rudimentary steam engine, predating the more famous discovery of steam power by Giovanni Branca in 1629. Al-Din is best known for the building of the Istanbul observatory of al-Din.

Al-Din was born in the early 16th century in either Syria or Egypt, and was educated in Cairo, Egypt. He became a Muslim theologian for a time, publishing several books, and in 1571 he moved to Istanbul to become the official astronomer for Sultan Selim II of the Ottoman Empire. When Selim II died, Murad III became the new sultan, and al-Din convinced Murad to fund the building of a new observatory. Completed in 1577, this would become known as the Istanbul observatory of al-Din, a telescope and observatory built to rival the ones in Europe (specifically the Royal Danish Astronomical Observatory built for Tycho Brahe). Al-Din had hoped to update the old astronomical tables describing the motion of the planets, sun, and moon.

Within months of the observatory's completion, however, al-Din witnessed a comet and, thinking the comet was an omen, predicted an Ottoman military victory. This prediction was incorrect, and because of this the Sultan decided to destroy the observatory. It was razed in 1580.

External links

• Discoveries of Muslim scholars
• History of Science and Technology in Islam

Further reading

• Bernard Lewis, What Went Wrong? : The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East (ISBN 0060516054)
• David A. King, Taki al-Din in EI (2nd ed.), vol. 10, pp. 132-3
• David A. King, A Survey of the Scientific manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library [American Research Center in Egypt, Catalogs vol. 5] (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1986) p. 171-2 entry H12
• Ahmad Y. al-Hassan, Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering, Instiute for the History of Arabic Science, Aleppo University, 1976, pp. 34-35.