Al-Biruni

Abū al-Rayhān Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bīrūnī (Chorasmian/Persian: ابوریحان بیرونی‎‎ Abū Rayḥān Bērōnī; New Persian: Abū Rayḥān Bīrūnī) (4/5 September 973 – 13 December 1048), known as Al-Biruni (Arabic: البيروني‎) in English, was a Persian scholar and Polymath from the Khwarezm region.Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. He was conversant in Khwarezmian, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, and also knew Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He spent a large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid dynasty which was based in what is now central-eastern Afghanistan. In 1017 he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and authored “Tarikh Al-Hind” (History of India) after exploring the Hindu faith practised in India. He is given the titles the ""founder of Indology"". He was an impartial writer on custom and creeds of various nations, and was given the title al-Ustadh (""The Master"") for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. He also made contributions to Earth sciences, and is regarded as the ""father of geodesy"" for his important contributions to that field, along with his significant contributions to geography.