Ibn al-Haytham
Ibn al-Haytham, Latinized as Alhazen, was a mathematician, astronomer, and physicist of the Islamic Golden Age from Iraq. Referred to as "the father of modern optics", he made significant contributions to the principles of optics and visual perception in particular. His most influential work is titled Kitāb al-Manāẓir, written during 1011–1021, which survived in a Latin edition. The works of Alhazen were frequently cited during the Scientific Revolution by Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, Johannes Kepler, and Christiaan Huygens. According to historian of science A.I Sabra, in Ibn al-Haytham's Optics, "there appeared for the first time a distinct concept of experiment", with Arabic cognates corresponding to Latin terms experimentare, experimentatio, and experimentator.
Ibn al-Haytham was the first to correctly prove vision as intromissive rather than extramissive, and to argue that vision occurs in the brain, pointing to observations that it is subjective and affected by personal experience. He also stated a principle of least time for refraction, similar to the results from Fermat's principle proposed in 1662.
Ibn al-Haytham was the first to correctly prove vision as intromissive rather than extramissive, and to argue that vision occurs in the brain, pointing to observations that it is subjective and affected by personal experience. He also stated a principle of least time for refraction, similar to the results from Fermat's principle proposed in 1662.
