Flourished (Iran), early fourteenth century
Wābkanawī is the author of the important astronomical handbook al-Zīj al-muḥaqqaq, which contains valuable historical information on lost earlier works and is one of only two zījes known to be based on the observations carried out at the famous observatory at Marāgha.
Wābkanawī presumably hailed from the village Wābkana (or Wābakna) nearly 20 km from the important cultural center of Bukhara (now in Uzbekistan). Hardly anything is known about his life, and the available information about his astronomical career derives mainly from his astronomical handbook with tables, al-Zīj al-muḥaqqaq al-sulṭāniҁalā uṣūl al-raṣad al-Īlkhānī(The correct zīj for the sultan based on the principles of the Īlkhān observations). From the introduction to this work, it appears that Wābkanawī made observations during a period of 40 years, presumably at the famous observatory in Marāgha in northwestern Iran, which had been founded by Hülegü Khān at the instigation...
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Selected References
Dalen, Benno van, E. S. Kennedy, and Mustafa K. Saiyid (1997). “The Chinese-Uighur Calendar in Tūsī’s Zīj-i Īlkhānī.” Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften 11: 111–152.
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Mozaffari, S. Mohammad (2013). “Wābkanawī’s prediction and calculations of the annular solar eclipse of 30 January 1283”. Historia Mathematica 40 (2013) 235–261.
Saliba, George (1983). “An Observational Notebook of a Thirteenth-Century Astronomer.” Isis 74: 388–401. (Provides proof that the Adwār al-anwār of Ibn Abī al-Shukr al-Maghribī is based on the observations carried out at Marāgha.)
Sayılı, Aydın (1960). The Observatory in Islam. Ankara: Turkish Historical Society.
Storey, C. A. (1958). Persian Literature. Vol. 2, pt. 1. A. Mathematics. B. Weights and Measures. C. Astronomy and Astrology. D. Geography. London: Luzac and Co., esp. p. 65.
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van Dalen, B. (2014). Wābkanawī: Shams al-Munajjim [Shams al-Dīn] Muḥammad ibn ҁAlī Khwāja al-Wābkanawī [Wābkanawī]. In: Hockey, T., et al. Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1433
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