Mirzo Ulugbek

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 The name of Mirzo Ulugbek, a great scientist and statesman, a brilliant representative of the Timurid dynasty, is written in golden letters in the pages of world science. His great contribution to the development of astronomy, mathematics, geometry, geography and a number of other sciences, the accuracy of his calculations in the Middle Ages still amazes modern scientists.

  Mirzo Ulugbek's name is known all over the world as a great thinker. However, he first accompanied his grandfather Amir Temur and then his father Shahrukh on various marches. After becoming the ruler of Movarounnahr, he later traveled to different parts of the country. He used what he saw during his travels in his scientific work. Therefore, we can include Ulugbek in the list of tourist scientists.

  Mirzo Ulugbek (full name - Mirzo Muhammad ibn Shohrukh ibn Temur Ulugbek Koragon) was born on March 1394, 22 during the military campaigns of Amir Temur in the city of Sultaniya in Azerbaijan, Iran. Amir Temur entrusted the upbringing of his beloved grandson to his eldest wife Saroymulkhanim, and for the next 11 years the upbringing played an important role in the formation of Mirzo Ulugbek as a great man.

  In 1409, Temurzoda appointed his son Ulugbek as the governor of Samarkand, and in 1411 Mirzo Ulugbek took control of the whole of Movarounnahr and turned Samarkand into a center of science.

  Mirzo Ulugbek is not only a patron of science, but also a scientist who paid great attention to the development of enlightenment in the country. He built not one, but three madrasas in Movarounnahr. One of them is in Samarkand (1417-1420), the second in Bukhara (1417) and the third in Gijduvan (1433). He even wrote a hadith on the roof of a madrasa in Bukhara: "Knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim."

 According to historians, Ulugbek had a strong memory: geometry, mathematics, astronomy, history, literature, logic, music and the sciences of the Qur'an, hadith and jurisprudence. However, Mirzo Ulugbek devoted most of his life to astronomy, and his contribution to the development of this science in the XV century is invaluable. Because the quality of the star chart, which existed before the Middle Ages, that is, its accuracy, did not satisfy the astronomers of that time. Therefore, the observatory under the leadership of Mirzo Ulugbek was built and equipped in Samarkand to observe celestial bodies.

  It is known that the observatory was visited in 1427-1429, and the plan to build it was born in the childhood of the future scientist Mirzo Ulugbek. As a young man, the scientist saw the Maroga Observatory near Tehran and enthusiastically decided, "I will see the same." When Ulugbek was 26-27 years old, he got acquainted with scientists and had many conversations with them. By 1420, about 60-70 mathematicians and astronomers had gathered around him. The main part of the observatory, which Ulugbek saw, consisted of a quadrant with a radius of 40,2 meters, and a number of other equipment for astronomical measurements.

  The observatory building consisted of a three-storey building. Mirzo Ulugbek gathered more than 100 scientists in various fields in the observatory and scientific-educational center, which he built, and conducted a wide range of scientific research. These were the great scholars of their time, such as Qazizada Rumi, Giyosiddin Jamshid, Ali Kushchi, Mawlana Ahmad, Muhammad Qavafi, Abul Ali Birjandiy, Mirim Chalabi, Muiniddin Kashi.

  Unfortunately, after the death of Ulugbek, the observatory building was neglected and gradually began to crumble, and by the end of the XVII century, the upper part was completely destroyed. The underground part of the structure remained underground and was buried. As a result of archeological researches of the Russian archeologist V.Vyatkin in Samarkand in 1908 and 1914, the location of the remains of the Ulugbek Observatory was determined, and then the study of it was continued.

  Mirzo Ulugbek founded the Ulugbek Academy on the basis of an observatory in Samarkand, and as a result of his scientific observations, such as "Ziji jadidi Koragoniy" ("New astronomical table of Koragoniy") and "History of the Four Nations" created famous works. According to the historian Davlatshah Samarkandi, "Ulugbek was like Euclid in geometry and Ptolemy in astronomy."

  In the work "Ziji jadidi Koragoniy" the coordinates of 1018 fixed stars are shown with astonishing accuracy. According to experts, this table of stars is the most accurate astronomical source created in the period after the tables compiled by Greek scientists Hipparchus, who lived in the II century BC, and Ptolemy, who created in the I-II centuries AD.

  The trigonometric tables in "Ziji jadidi Koragoniy" are also distinguished by their accuracy. In particular, Mirzo Ulugbek was able to calculate an important constant in astronomy - the sine value of one degree with an accuracy of 18 characters after the comma.

  Mirzo Ulugbek is one of the leaders in world astronomy in determining the value of the inclination of the ecliptic, a space circle in which the Sun revolves once a year. According to his calculations in 1437, the inclination of the ecliptic is 23 ° 30'17 ″, and this value differs from modern calculations by only 0'32 ″. Therefore, an astronomical year calculated by Ulugbek is 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes and 8 seconds, which differs from modern data by only 58 seconds.

  Ulugbek's works also contain a number of geographical information. The tables in Ziji Jadidi Koragoniy provide information on the geographical coordinates of 683 settlements around the world. In particular, according to Ulugbek, the observatory created by him is located at a latitude of 39 ° 37'28. Current measurements show that the location of this structure corresponds to a latitude of 39 ° 40'37 ». If we take into account the medieval observation equipment and methods, we can say that the results of measurements made by Ulugbek are very accurate.

  In addition, Samarkand historian Mutrubi Samarkandi's work "Tazkirat ush-shuaro", written in 1605, contains a map of the Eastern Hemisphere, created by Ulugbek. According to the author, this unique map is a miniature copy of the map on the wall of Ulugbek Madrasah in Samarkand. In it, the Eastern Hemisphere is divided into seven regions with a unique climate, rivers and seas are marked in different colors. The map shows the names of Egypt, Basra, Multon, Khojand, Bukhara, Khazarasp, Khorezm, Kashgar, Sayhun, Sinh and a number of other places.

  According to Mutrubi Samarkandi, the Taliban studied literature, metaphysics, arithmetic, geography and other secular sciences at the Ulugbek madrasah in Samarkand. According to the author, geography was studied with the help of a map created by Ulugbek.

  The great contribution of the Samarkand School of Astronomy, created by Mirzo Ulugbek, to the development of this science is widely recognized by world scientists. Ziji jadidi Koragoniy was translated into English in Oxford in the 1648th century and later into other languages ​​of the world with a number of commentaries. An engraving depicting a symbolic gathering of the world's astronomers was added to the "Starry Sky Catalog" published in Poland in XNUMX by astronomer Jan Havelli, and included Ulugbek, one of the world's most famous scientists. The table of stars in Ziji Jadidi Koragoniy has long been used as the best guide in the world and has not lost its scientific and historical significance.

  Mirzo Ulugbek can rightly be called the sultan of astronomy. As a result of boundless respect for the scientist, statues have been erected in a number of cities of our country and even abroad. In honor of his great contribution to world science, the name of Mirzo Ulugbek was immortalized in space. In particular, the German astronomer Johann Heinrich von Medler, who lived and worked in the XIX century, named his crater on the Moon after Mirzo Ulugbek.