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Biṭrūjī: Nūr al‐Dīn Abū Isḥāq [Abū Jaҁfar]Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf al‐Biṭrūjī

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The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers

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Flourished  Andalusia (Spain), 1185–1192

Biṭrūjī was a famous Andalusian (Arab) cosmologist who wrote an astronomical work that was quite influential in Latin Europe, where he was known as Alpetragius. Little is known of his life. He was probably a disciple of the philosopher Ibn Ṭufayl (died: 1185/1186), who was already dead when Biṭrūjī wrote his Kitāb fī al‐hay'a. On the other hand, an anonymous treatise on tides (Escorial MS 1636, dated 1192) contains ideas seemingly borrowed from Biṭrūjī's work. A more definitive guide to dating is Michael Scot, who finished his Latin translation of Biṭrūjī's work in Toledo in 1217. His book was also translated into Hebrew by Mosheh ben Tibbon in 1259, and one of the manuscripts of this Hebrew translation states that he was a judge. A late 15th‐century Moroccan source calls him faqīh (jurist). His name, al‐Biṭrūjī, may be a corruption of al‐Biṭrawshī, derived from Biṭrawsh, a village in Faḥṣ al‐Ballūṭ (Cordova province).

Biṭrūjī's only extant work...

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Selected References

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  • Goldstein, Bernard R. (1971). Al‐Biṭrūjī: On the Principles of Astronomy. 2 Vols. New Haven: Yale University Press. (See the reviews by Kennedy and Lorch.)

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Authors
  1. Julio Samsó
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Science, University of Northern Iowa, Office: Latham 112, 50614, Cedar Falls, IA, USA

    Thomas Hockey (Professor of Astronomy) (Professor of Astronomy)

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Samsó, J. (2007). Biṭrūjī: Nūr al‐Dīn Abū Isḥāq [Abū Jaҁfar]Ibrāhīm ibn Yūsuf al‐Biṭrūjī. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_164

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