Name Ibn al-Saffar | Died 1035, Denia, Spain | |
Abu al‐Qasim Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar al‐Ghafiqi ibn al-Saffar al‐Andalusi (Born in Cordoba, died in the year 1035 at Denia), Ibn al-Saffar (literally: son of the brass worker). He was a close colleague and astronomer at the school founded by Al-Majriti in Cordoba. His best known work was a treatise on the Astrolabe, the work was still published until the 15th century and influenced the work of Kepler, he also writes a commentary on the Zij al-Sindhind, and measured the coordinates to Mecca.
David A. King, historian of Islamic instrumentation, describes the universal astrolobe designed by Ibn al-Sarraj in the early 14th-century as "the most sophisticated astronomical instrument from the entire Medieval and Renaissance periods".
Ibn al-Saffar later influenced the works of Abu al-Salt.