Biography
Ulugh Beg was a Timurid ruler and astronomer who built a monumental observatory at Samarkand with an enormous meridian arc. His Zij-i-Sultani catalogued the positions of more than a thousand stars with an accuracy unsurpassed until the telescope, making it the finest star catalogue between Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe.
Scientific contributions
- Built the great observatory at Samarkand
- Compiled the Zij-i-Sultani star catalogue (1437)
- Measured stellar positions to unprecedented naked-eye accuracy
Catalogues
Knowledge connections
- Part ofIslamic Golden Age Astronomy
- IntroducedZij-i-Sultani
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica
General reference for the history of astronomy, biographies, and cultural context.
- IAUInternational Astronomical Union
Official naming, definitions, constellation boundaries, and astronomical nomenclature.