Scientiae 2025: Istanbul, 16-19 September, Annual Conference

Session

S.4.7. Astronomy in Practice: Instruments, Texts, and Cross-Cultural Dialogues

19 Sept 2025, 14:30

ROOM 1 (Amfi 8) (Istanbul University Faculty of Letters)

Conveners

S.4.7. Astronomy in Practice: Instruments, Texts, and Cross-Cultural Dialogues

• Mostafa Yavari (University of Tehran, Institute for the History of Science)
• Kaveh Niazi (Stanford Online High School)

Description

Chair: Florence Somer

The Unsanctified Space: Observatories in Islamic Lands

Mostafa Yavari (University of Tehran, Institute for the History of Science)

19/09/2025, 14:30

Individual papers

The two major observatories built in Samarkand and Istanbul during the 15th and 16th centuries, as the last significant observatories in the Islamic world, shared a common fate: both were destroyed. However, the circumstances of their destruction and the historical narratives surrounding their demise differ. The reasons behind their destruction appear to remain shrouded in ambiguity and...

An Astronomical Summa of the Safavid Era: Tashrīḥ al-Aflāk by Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī

Kaveh Niazi (Stanford Online High School)

19/09/2025, 14:50

Individual papers

The Lebanese born scholar Bahāʾ al-Dīn al-ʿĀmilī (953/1547-1030/1621), known as Shaikh Bahāʾī, was a key cultural figure of the Safavid court of Shah ʿAbbās I (995/1587-1038/1629). Among his most popular scientific works was Tashrīḥ al-aflāk (“Explanation of the Celestial Spheres”), which has survived in numerous copies to the present day. The author identifies this short work as a...