Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, (c. 780 — c. 850) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer. He was appointed as the astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom (a major library and intellectual centre) in Baghdad.
Al-Khwārizmī, the Father of Algebra, wrote his greatest mathematical work, Hisab al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabala, where he works out several hundred simple quadratic equations by analysis as well as by geometrical example. The book mainly focused on solving practical computational problems rather than what is now knows as algebra. His book was translated into Latin in the 12th century.
Al-Khwārizmī was also named "the Grandfather of Computer Science" since he developed the concept of the algorithm in mathematics. Algorithms are now understood as the set of practices used to solve a specific problem. Al-Khwārizmī's was also responsible for introducing the Arabic numbers (0,1,2,...,9) to Europe.
Al-Khwārizmī had substantial contributions to the science of astronomy including: "calendars, calculating true positions of the sun, moon, and planets, tables of sines and tangents, and spherical astronomy."
Additionally, Al-Khwārizmī made great contributions to geography. He used his original findings collected in the book named Surat al-Ard (The Shape of Earth) to correct and systematize Ptolemy's work in geography. Unfortunately, his original map was not reserved but scientists were able to reconstruct it using the descriptions available in Surat al-Ard.
Even though Al-Khwārizmī was a pioneer in mathematics, astronomy, and geography, many of his contributions are overlooked and rather are attributed to European scientists.
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