2014/04/15 by Babak Daneshfard, Behnam Dalfardi, Golnoush Sadat Mahmoudi Nezhad · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #History of Medicine Studies #History of Science and Medicine
paper · doi:10.1177/0967772014529050
openalex publication_date 2014/04/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abū ՙAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, known in the West as Alhazen, was an Arab-Islamic scholar who helped develop the science of ophthalmology during the medieval era. He was the first to reject firmly the extramission theory of vision, which was prevalent during his time, and suggested that the eyes are the source of the light rays responsible for vision. Ibn al-Haytham in his book entitled Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) explained vision based on light emanating from objects. In this study we review Ibn al-Haytham's life and introduce his major contribution to the field of ophthalmology, his theory of vision.