Main content

Al-Biruni

In a series about key thinkers and achievements from the Islamic Golden Age, Professor James Montgomery focuses on the scholar Al-Biruni.

Radio 3 continues its series of portraits of some of the more remarkable figures and events from the Islamic Golden Age - an era which saw huge changes in empires, medicine, architectural achievements and philosophical thought. In this evening's essay, Professor James Montgomery sheds light on the scholar al-Biruni. An exceptionally gifted mathematician, he devoted much of his life to astronomy and chronometry in an effort to measure, capture and contain time. He lived a long life devoted to scholarship and wrote more than 140 books which influenced intellectual thought of the period and beyond.

Producer: Sarah Taylor.

Available now

15 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Thu 6 Feb 2014 22:45
  • Thu 6 Aug 2015 22:30

Death in Trieste

Death in Trieste

A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.

Watch: My Deaf World

Watch: My Deaf World

Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.

The Book that Changed Me

Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.

Download The Essay

Download The Essay

Download all the episodes from the series and listen at your leisure.

Podcast