Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham: The Father of Modern Optics

Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (Latinized as Alhazen) was a pioneering 11th-century polymath widely revered as the “Father of Modern Optics” and one of history’s first true scientists. Born around 965 CE in Basra, Iraq, during the Islamic Golden Age, his ground-breaking experiments fundamentally shifted how humans understand light, vision, and scientific inquiry itself. He spent the most productive years of his life in Cairo, Egypt, where he passed away around 1040 CE. 👁️ Overturning Ancient Theories of Vision

For centuries, the Western and Islamic worlds relied on the Greek theories of Euclid and Ptolemy. They taught “emission theory”—the idea that our eyes emit rays of light to touch objects, allowing us to see.

Ibn al-Haytham completely rejected this idea. Through systematic experimentation, he proved intromission theory: Ḥasan Ibn al-Haytham: The Father of Modern Optics