Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131) – Biography and Facts

Omar Khayyam was born on May 18, 1048, in Neyshābūr Khorāsān, which is now formally known as Iran. He died on December 4, 1131, in Neyshābūr. His Arabic name was Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nīsābūrī al-Khayyāmī. The Islamic academic put together astronomical tables as well as helped to put up the calendar and discovered a geometrical method of solving cubic equations by bisecting a parabola with a circle. His poetry is also very famous around the world.

Different biographers have documented different opinions on him; some say he was a jolly person, while some others say he was a wine drinker. Nonetheless, he contributed a lot to science as well as Maths.

English readers know him for his remarkable work through the translation of his collection of hundreds of rubais in Rubaiyat. A distinguished teacher of the Khorasan region tutored Omar along with other children of the highest virtue. He even travelled to Bukhara, where he often visited the famous library of Ark. When he moved to Samarkand in about 1070, he composed his famous treatise on algebra. 

Early Life of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131)

• Omar was born in Neyshābūr Khorāsān, where he spent most of his life

• Omar and his family were Muslims; his father’s name was Ebrahim Khayyam. His mother’s name remains unknown

• Omar, during his teenage life, worked in his father’s surgery, gaining knowledge about medicine

• He studied under the supervision of Sheikh Muhammad Mansuri and later studied under Imam Mowaffak

• Two other extraordinary students started studying under the same educators at about the same time

• One of them was Nizam-ul-Mulk, who proceeded on to become the vizier to two rulers of the Persian Empire. The other was Hassan-I-Sabah, who proceed on to become the leader of the Hashshashin.

How Had He Contributed to Mathematics?

He worked on Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, written in 1070 when he was just 22 years old. 

The algebra taught in high schools around the world are all works of Omar Khayyam. It was in time up taken by the western world of mathematics, his creative, systematic methods of solving cubic equations by intersecting conic sections. He even wrote on the triangular array of binomial coefficients formally known as Pascal’s triangle.

There is also an important part of the book concerned with Euclid’s popular parallel postulate. He also worked in geometry, specifically on the theory of proportions. This just proves how much he had contributed to mathematics.

Omar Khayyam as an Astronomer

Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131) – biography states that he was an astronomer too. Omar Khayyam was invited, along with other famous scientists by the Malik-shah, sultan of the Seljuk dynasty, to build an observatory in 1073.

Later, he measured the length of the year to an accurate 365.24219858156 days.

He even proved to an audience that the universe is not moving around the world, and he showed that the earth revolves on its axis. This brought into viewing different constellations throughout the night and day.

Omar Khayyam and His Poetry

Omar Khayyam was best known for his poems.

He has written around one thousand four-line verses. He is famous for his literary works. For the English-speaking readers, he is best known for the “the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” which was translated by a well-known English poet Edward Fitzgerald.

Omar Khayyam Rubaiyat gained popularity around 1860. All of his work was discovered after this death, before which it remained neglected. Now his poems are world-famous.

Interesting Facts about Omar Khayyam (1048- 1131)

• Khayyam was a famous teacher of algebra and geometry

• As a famous mathematician, astronomer, and poet, he contributed a lot to the development of the world

• There is another fact about Omar Khayyam that he was also responsible for his measurements for the development of the Jalali calendar

• A creator on the moon was named after him in 1970

• He had worked as the court astrologer

• He even wrote a book called “problems of arithmetic” which was based on music and algebra

• Omar Khayyam Rubaiyat wasn’t famous until Edward FitzGerald translated them

• “Khayyam” translates to “ten-maker”, and it is believed that he was born in a family of tent makers

• Not only this, in his honour, Google changed its logo into a doodle in around 17 countries with an image highlighting Omar Khayyam (1048 – 1131) and his greatest achievements.

Conclusion

He contributed to algebra as a mathematician. As an astronomer, he contributed to science and to literature. He contributed his beautiful poems called Omar Khayyam Rubaiyat. His poetry is well known in the west. He was an extraordinary and talented person. People became his fans, and even soldiers took miniature copies of the Rubaiyat to the battleground. Omar remains an important figure in present-day Iran and the world. 

Facts about Omar Khayyam state that his philosophies are as famous as his poems. His poems focused on what was real and what could be known. Khayyam’s achievement was magnificent. Omar Khayyam even found that 1,029,983 days made 2,820 years. His full history is still not known to the world; it is believed that he married and had at least one child. At the age of 83, Omar Khayyam died in his hometown of Nishapur on December 4, 1131. It is believed that he was buried in a tomb, and he had chosen a place for an orchard. Khayyam was admired in the west, and in Iran, tourists pay respect to the great poet.