A Princely Pandect on Astronomy: Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī's Muʿīnīya Epistle and its Appendix
About this ebook
This book helped ensure the patronage of Ṭūsī's courtly patrons during his decades-long stay with the Ismaʿīlīs, as well as the continuation of his remarkable career under the first Ilkhanid rulers of Persia. This translation helps make this notable treatise accessible to English language readers. It is among a handful of English translations of major astronomical works dealing with hay’a/cosmography in the Islamic world.
Subsequently Ṭūsī was to pen hisown commentary on the work (the Ḥall-i Mushkilāt-i Muʿīnīya, or A solution to the difficulties of the Muʿīnīya) and he used this occasion to discuss his celebrated mathematical formulation “the Ṭūsī Couple” (a concept that he merely hinted at in the Risālā-yi Muʿīnīya).
About the author
Kaveh Niazi received a Ph.D in applied physics from the University of California, Berkeley (1995) as well as a Ph.D in the history of science from Columbia University, New York, in 2011. He is the author of "Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī and the Configuration of the Heavens" (Springer, 2014). His research interests include the history of astronomy, geology, and engineering in the Islamic era.
