Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf ash-Shami al-Asadi (; ; ‎ 1526–1585) was an Ottoman polymath active in Cairo and Istanbul. He was the author of more than ninety books on a wide variety of subjects, including astronomy, clocks, engineering, mathematics, mechanics, optics, and natural philosophy.

In 1574 the Ottoman Sultan Murad III invited Taqi ad-Din to build an observatory in the Ottoman capital, Istanbul. Taqi ad-Din constructed instruments such as an armillary sphere and mechanical clocks that he used to observe the Great Comet of 1577. He also used European celestial and terrestrial globes that were delivered to Istanbul in gift exchanges.

His major work from the use of his observatory is titled "The tree of ultimate knowledge [in the end of time or the world] in the Kingdom of the Revolving Spheres: The astronomical tables of the King of Kings [Murad III]" (Sidrat al-muntah al-afkar fi malkūt al-falak al-dawār– al-zij al-Shāhinshāhi). The work was prepared according to the results of the observations carried out in Egypt and Istanbul in order to correct and complete Ulugh Beg's 15th century work, the Zij-i Sultani. The first 40 pages of the work dealt with calculations, followed by discussions of astronomical clocks, heavenly circles, and information on three eclipses which he observed in Cairo and Istanbul.

As a polymath, Taqi al-Din wrote numerous books on astronomy, mathematics, mechanics, and theology. His method of finding coordinates of stars were reportedly so precise that he got better measurements than his contemporaries, Tycho Brahe and Nicolas Copernicus. Brahe is also thought to have been aware of Taqi al-Din's work.

Taqi ad-Din also described a steam turbine with the practical application of rotating a spit in 1551.

Biography

thumb|Observation of a comet from Istanbul (1577)

Taqī al-Dīn was born in Damascus in 1526 according to most sources. His ethnicity has been described as Arab, Kurdish, Syrian, and Turkish. In his treatise, titled "Rayḥānat al-rūḥ", Taqī al-Dīn himself claimed descent from the Ayyubids tracing his lineage back to the Ayyubid prince Nasir al-Din Mankarus ibn Nasih al-Din Khumartekin who ruled Abu Qubays in Syria during the 12th century. The Encyclopaedia of Islam makes no mention of his ethnicity, simply calling him, "...the most important astronomer of Ottoman Turkey".

Taqi ad-Din's education started in theology and as he went on he would gain an interest in the rational sciences. Following his interest, he would begin to study the rational sciences in Damascus and Cairo. During that time he studied alongside his father Maʿruf Efendi. Al-Dīn went on to teach at various madaris and served as a qadi, or judge, in Palestine, Damascus, and Cairo. He stayed in Egypt and Damascus for some time and while he was there he created work in astronomy and mathematics. His work in these categories would eventually become important. He became a chief astronomer to the Sultan in 1571 a year after he came to Istanbul, replacing Mustafa ibn Ali al-Muwaqqit.

Taqī al-Dīn continued his studies at the Galata Tower while this was going on. His studies would continue until 1577 at the nearly complete observatory, which was called Dar al-Rasad al-Jadid. This new observatory contained a library that held books which covered astronomy and mathematics. The observatory, built in the higher part of Tophane in Istanbul, was made of two separate buildings. One building was big and the other one was small. Al-Dīn possessed some of the instruments used in the old Islamic observatories. He had those instruments reproduced and also created new instruments which would be used for observational purposes. The staff at the new observatory consisted of sixteen people. Eight of them were observers or rasids, four of them were clerks, and the last four were assistants.

At the age of 59, after authoring more than ninety books, Taqī al-Dīn died in 1585.

The Constantinople Observatory

Taqī al-Dīn was both the founder and director of the Constantinople Observatory, which is also known as the Istanbul Observatory. In fact, it is known as one of the largest observatories in Islamic history. It is often compared to Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg Observatory, which was said to have been the home to the best instruments of its time in Europe. As a matter of fact, Brahe and Taqī al-Dīn have frequently been compared for their work in sixteenth-century astronomy. It was closed in 1579 and, was demolished entirely by the state on 22 January 1580, only 11 short years after the imperial edict which called for its construction. The Sultan ultimately would provide Taqī al-Dīn with everything he needed from financial assistance for the physical buildings, to intellectual assistance making sure he had easy access to many types of books he would need. When the Sultan decided to create the observatory he saw it as a way to show off the power his monarchy had besides just financially backing it. Murad III showed his power by bringing Taqī al-Dīn and some of the most accomplished men in the field of astronomy together to work towards one goal and not only have them work well together but also make progress in the field. Of these novel inventions, the automatic-mechanical clock is regarded as one of the most important developed in the Constantinople Observatory.

Contributions

Clock mechanics

Rise of clock use in the Ottoman Empire

Before the sixteenth century European mechanical clocks were not in high demand. This lack of demand was brought on by the extremely high prices and the lack of preciseness needed by the population who had to calculate when they would have to have the prayer. The use of hourglasses, water clocks, and sundials was more than enough to meet their needs.

It was not until around 1547 that the Ottomans started creating a high demand for them. Initially, it was started by the gifts brought by the Austrians but this would end up starting a market for the clocks. European clockmakers began to create clocks designed to the tastes and needs of the Ottoman people. They did this by showing both the phases of the moon and by utilizing Ottoman numbers. He believed that it would be advantageous to bring a "true hermetic and distilled perception of the motion of the heavenly bodies." In order to get a better understanding of how clocks ran Taqī al-Dīn took the time to gain knowledge from many European clock makers as well as going into the treasury of Semiz Ali Pasha and learning anything he could from the many clocks he owned. After this clock it is not known whether Taqī al-Dīn's work in mechanical clocks was ever continued, given that much of the clockmaking after that time in the Ottoman Empire was taken over by Europeans.

Steam

In 1551 Taqī al-Dīn described a self-rotating spit that is important in the history of the steam turbine. In Al-Turuq al-samiyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines) al-Dīn describes this machine as well as some practical applications for it. The spit is rotated by directing steam into the vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of the axle. Al-Dīn also described four water-raising machines. The first two are animal driven water pumps. The third and fourth are both driven by a paddle wheel. The third is a slot-rod pump while the fourth is a six-cylinder pump. The vertical pistons of the final machine are operated by cams and trip-hammers, run by the paddle wheel.

Important works

Astronomy

  • Sidrat muntahā al-afkār fī malakūt al-falak al-dawwār (al-Zīj al-Shāhinshāhī): this is said to be one of Taqī al-Dīn's most important works in astronomy. He completed this book on the basis of his observations in both Egypt and Istanbul. The purpose of this work was to improve, correct, and ultimately complete Zīj-i Ulugh Beg, which was a project devised in Samarkand and furthered in the Constantinople Observatory. The first 40 pages of his writing focus on trigonometric calculations, with emphasis on trigonometric functions such sine, cosine, tangent, and cotangent.