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Qadi Zada al-Rumi

Type Figure Region Bursa Time 1364–1436 Also known as Qāḍīzāda al-Rūmī、Qadi Zada al-Rumi、Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī、Salah al-Din Musa、Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Mūsā ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd、Kadızade-i Rumi、萨拉哈丁·穆萨

Ottoman-born mathematician and astronomer (c. 1364–1436, Bursa–Samarkand) who reached Samarkand c.…

Timeline

  1. 1364–1410Bursa · Ottoman EmpireHe grew up in Bursa, studying under Fanari and others, and by around 1383 already had works on arithmetic, algebra, and measurement in circulation. His teachers urged him to further his studies in Khwarazm or Transoxiana; he set out westward around 1407, passing through many cities, and arrived in Samarkand during the academic reorganization after Timur's death.
  2. c. 1410–1420Samarkand · Timurid EmpireAround 1410 he met the seventeen-year-old Ulugh Beg, thereafter writing textbook-style commentaries for the young ruler. Around 1412 he completed commentaries on Samarkandi's Geometric Propositions and Jaghmini's Compendium of Astronomy, married in Samarkand, and devoted the rest of his life to teaching there.
  3. 1420–1429Samarkand · Timurid EmpireAfter Ulugh Beg completed the Registan madrasa and recruited more than sixty scholars, Qadi Zada was appointed its head, with Ulugh Beg often attending his lectures. Together with the observatory team he advanced stellar observation and trigonometric calculation, becoming the core director of the observatory's mathematical work. This phase falls within the 1401–1450 window.
  4. 1429–1436Samarkand Observatory · SamarkandAfter 1429 he became one of the observatory's principal directors, continuing the observation program with the help of Ali Qushji, providing the mathematical foundation—including high-precision sine calculations—for the later-published Zij-i Sultani. He died in Samarkand around 1436, and the star catalog was completed several years after his death.

Sources