orn in the golden age of Muslim civilisation as Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan ibn al-Haitham – often called Alhazen by Western theorists – in 965 in Basra, Iraq, Ibn Al-Haytham was one of the earliest scientists to study the characteristics of light and the mechanics of vision. During his years in Egypt, he spent 10 years, translated as the or the . Ibn Al-Haytham was a pioneer in marrying optics, mathematics and astronomy. He experimented endlessly to advance the knowledge of optics, looking to prove his theory that light travelled in a straight line, which went against the more common theories circulated by classical Greek thinkers. These schools of thought maintained that rays of light were emitted from our eyes, whereas Ibn al-Haytham concluded the reverse, proving that vision is accomplished by rays emerging from external luminous sources and entering the eye. Ibn al-Haytham undertook a systematic critique of these popular ideas in order to demonstrate that light was a crucial, and independent, part of the visual process. His explanation on the nature of light and vision was tested through the use of a dark chamber called an , which translates to “camera obscura”. He noted how the light coming through a tiny hole travelled in straight lines and projected onto the opposite wall. Thus, his work formed the basis of photography. Ibn al-Haytham died in the year 1027 at the age of 74.
