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Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Ma'rūf, nicknamed Taqī al-Dīn, was born in
Damascus in 932 H/1525-26. He died in Istanbul in 993 H/1585. A
scientist expert in different fields, he made valuable
contributions in mathematics, astronomy, optics, and mechanics.
He was the founder and the director of the Istanbul Observatory;
as such and as an astronomer, he invented and improved various
astronomical instruments, among which an automatic-mechanical
clock that he used in astronomical observations. He designed
original and sophisticated machines and devices and advanced the
arithmetic of decimal fractions and used them in the calculation
of astronomical tables.
The particular significance of Taqī al-Dīn in the tradition of
Islamic science is that he personifies the best of Islamic
science in the 16th century. With his work, Islamic science was
still original and creative. Being highly original, his work can
be compared with Tycho Brahe and with Italian engineers, whom he
preceded in the design of original machines and instruments.
However, he was one of the last original and prolific scientists
to practice and write science in Arabic following the
centuries-old Islamic scientific tradition. After him, the rate
of originality will decrease, and at the same time modern
European science will experience a real and exponential take-off
with Kepler, Galileo, and later with Newton.
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