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Omar KhayyamTajik poet of the beginning of the millennium
Date of Birth: 18.05.1048
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Biography of Omar Khayyam
Omar Khayyam was born on May 18, 1048, in Nishapur, which was part of the Seljuk Sultanate at the time and is now located in Iran. The exact date of his birth was determined using a horoscope compiled by the historian Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi. Khayyam's full name, Ibn-Ibrahim, indicates that his father's name was Ibrahim, and Khayyam translates to "tentmaker," suggesting that he came from a family of craftsmen. His father, who was not poor, was able to provide him with a decent education.

Khayyam studied in Nishapur, which was one of the largest cultural centers with rich libraries and various types of schools. After the death of his parents during an epidemic, he sold his house and workshop and traveled to Samarkand. It was in Samarkand, a recognized scientific center in the East, that Khayyam's journey as a scholar and poet began. His knowledge in mathematics and astronomy impressed the wise men of the city, who immediately made him their mentor. It was during this time that Khayyam wrote his first scientific work, unfortunately, it did not survive, but some sources mention that it was called "Problems of Arithmetic."
After four years, Khayyam moved to Bukhara, where he worked in the book depository for ten years. This period in his life was one of the most fruitful. In Bukhara, Khayyam wrote four mathematical treatises, which were considered ahead of their time. He presented an algebraic method for solving quadratic equations and a geometric method for solving cubic equations. He was the first to speak of algebra as a science, stating that its purpose was to determine unknown quantities. Khayyam also achieved significant success in geometry, where he essentially proved the first theorems of Riemannian and Lobachevskian geometries in his treatise "Commentary on the Difficulties in the Introductions to the Book of Euclid."
To understand the life of the scholar at that time, it is necessary to know one detail. In that era, scholars and wise men were free people who traveled from city to city, bringing knowledge to those in need. Rulers typically patronized them, surrounding themselves with scholars to appear respectable to other rulers and their subjects. This was also the case with Omar Khayyam. In Bukhara, Khayyam was in the court of Nizam al-Mulk. It is said that the prince would seat him next to his throne and even offered him the position of ruler of Nishapur, which Khayyam declined. Later, when the Great Seljuq Empire established itself in Iran, Khayyam was invited to the court of the powerful Sultan Malik-Shah in the city of Isfahan. He spent 20 years there, most of which he managed a large observatory. The Sultan ordered Khayyam to create a new calendar since neither the lunar nor the solar Zoroastrian calendars were practical. After five years, the scientist and a group of astronomers achieved astonishing results and developed a new calendar known as "Malikshah's Chronology." Its uniqueness lay in its accuracy, being seven seconds more precise than the modern Gregorian calendar.
In addition to astronomy and mathematics, Omar Khayyam wrote works on philosophy, history, theosophy, and philology. He had a profound knowledge of Arabic language and literature, practiced medicine, and professionally studied music. Khayyam was skilled in composing poetry, which gained immense popularity in the 19th century and sparked an interest in his personality. During his 20 years in Isfahan, Omar Khayyam became one of the greatest scholars of the East. However, his peaceful life was disrupted in 1092 with the deaths of his patrons, al-Mulk and Malik-Shah. The new rulers, led by Hasan Sabbah, saw no value in having Khayyam around. He continued to work in the observatory until it was closed, and Isfahan lost its cultural significance.
Omar Khayyam left the court and returned to Nishapur, where he spent the rest of his days. He continued his teaching activities and continued to write scientific works. It is believed that it was during the latter years of his life that Khayyam acquired the reputation of a freethinker and apostate. This was due to the spread of his poems, which celebrated pleasure and defied morality.
It is possible that we would have never known about Omar Khayyam's existence if it were not for the English poet Edward FitzGerald, who lived in the 19th century. By fortunate coincidence, he came across a notebook containing poems that historians immediately attributed to the medieval scholar. The authorship of this notebook is still disputed, but the fact remains that FitzGerald became the popularizer of Khayyam. He translated his poems into Latin and then into English.
In the early 20th century, Khayyam's rubaiyat gained incredible popularity, sparking interest in his persona as a great scholar. However, his scientific achievements remain unknown to most people. Yet, there is no person who has not heard of the rubaiyat and their author – the great Omar Khayyam.
The date of the scientist and poet's death is considered to be December 4, 1131. According to his contemporary, the historian Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi, on that day, Khayyam conducted his usual classes, then spent a long time reading Avicenna's "The Book of Healing." Finally, he called the necessary people, made his will, and in the evening, he prayed, praised the Lord, and passed away.
In recent times, there have been testimonies that a significant portion of the poems attributed to Omar Khayyam were actually the work of another person or several individuals. It is even possible that there were two Khayyams: one being the great scholar, and the other being a wandering poet who infused worldly wisdom into his magnificent rubaiyat. It is unlikely that we will ever know the truth. We are left to marvel at the scientist's discoveries and admire the poems of the poet known to the world as Omar Khayyam.