Nasireddin Tusi (1201-1274)

A prominent Azerbaijani scholar and statesman. The scientific activity of teh talented and erudite Nasireddin Tusi is multi-sided. His works played a great role in the development of geometry and trigonometry not only in the East but also in Europe.  

It was Tusi who presented trigonometry as an individual science for the first time in the world. He also wrote on astronomy, physics, medicine, philosophy, ethics, and logic. He improved upon earlier Arabic translations of Avicenna (Canon of Medicine), Euclid (Elements), Ptolemy (Almagest), (Autolycus, Theodosius, Apollonius and others. About 20 works of his works make contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy. The most famous is '' The Astronomic Tables of Ilhans'' in four volumes which is a compilation of the research carried out at the Maragha Observatory. His most popular book dealt with ethics, '' Ahlagi Nasiri''.