Browse the index
Filter by category and discipline, then by continent, country and century of birth. Countries not yet represented can be drafted at the research desk.
Category
Era
Countries (85)
All countries (selected filter)Afghanistan2Algeria2Argentina4Australia5Austria10Bangladesh1Barbados2Belarus1Belgium2Botswana1Brazil6Bulgaria1Canada6Chile2China18Colombia2Costa Rica1Croatia1Cuba2Cyprus1Czech Republic3Denmark2DR Congo1Egypt6Ethiopia1Fiji1France16Germany21Ghana3Greece3Guatemala2Guinea-Bissau1Hungary5Iceland1India26Indonesia1Iran5Iraq1Ireland4Israel3Italy15Ivory Coast1Japan11Kenya3Liberia2Mali1Mexico3Morocco2Mozambique1Myanmar1Netherlands4New Zealand5Nigeria4Norway3Pakistan3Peru1Philippines1Poland5Portugal2Romania1Russia7Saint Lucia1Samoa1Senegal3Serbia1Singapore1Somalia1South Africa3South Korea3Spain5Sweden4Switzerland1Tanzania1Trinidad and Tobago1Tunisia1Türkiye3Ukraine1United Kingdom34United States76Uruguay1Uzbekistan4Venezuela1Vietnam1Yemen1Zimbabwe1
7 figures
Brahmagupta
598 – 668First to treat zero as a number and define rules for negatives.
India·Mathematics
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi
780 – 850Gave the world algebra and, through his own name, the algorithm.
Uzbekistan·Mathematics · Astronomy · ComputingFull profile
Ibn al-Haytham
965 – 1040Founded optics and the experimental method in the Book of Optics.
Iraq·Physics · Mathematics
Al-Biruni
973 – 1048Measured Earth's radius to within 1% and wrote the first comparative anthropology of India.
Uzbekistan·Astronomy · Mathematics · History
Omar Khayyam
1048 – 1131Solved cubics geometrically, reformed the calendar, wrote the Rubaiyat.
Iran·Mathematics · Astronomy · Literature
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
1201 – 1274Tusi couple; his planetary models likely reached Copernicus.
Iran·Astronomy · Mathematics
Ulugh Beg
1394 – 1449Sultan-astronomer whose star catalogue stood unmatched for two centuries.
Uzbekistan·Astronomy · Mathematics