NHT Exclusive
“Religion is scattering like fog,
kingdoms are being destroyed,but
the works of scientists remain forever ”
(Mirzo Ulugbek)
On one of the hills of Samarkand, there is an unusual structure. It was built over five centuries ago and this is the Ulugbek Observatory, the building that allowed making breakthrough in medieval astronomy.
Muhammad Taragay ibn Shahrukh ibn Temur Ulugbek Guragan was born in 1394 in the family of Shahrukh, the eldest son of Amir Temur. At the age of 10, he became the ruler of the vast territory of Mawarannahr with the capital in Samarkand. However, in history he became not a formidable ruler of the country, but a great scientist of that time. Mirzo Ulugbek was one of the most educated people in the world and was even a person who was ahead of his time. It is quite possible that not everything Ulugbek did was clear for his contemporaries at that time.
When Ulugbek was 8 years old, he accompanied his famous grandfather Amir Temur during the military campaign to Asia Minor and Syria. Once, in the city of Merag, young Ulugbek saw a famous Maragin Observatory, which existed until the middle of the XIV century and was the largest astronomical observatory of its time. About 400 thousand manuscripts were stored there and more than 100 scientists-astronomers worked in this observatory. It is said that since that time Ulugbek had been passionately keen on astronomy.
Thanks to the vast knowledge and power of the ruler, Mirzo Ulugbek was able to create the most equipped astronomical centre of that time. The observatory was round in shape, its diameter reached 46 meters, and the height was at the level of a ten-story building. Although the structure was three-story, each floor was ten meters higher. Inside, along the line of the meridian, Ulugbek built a quadrant – a large 64 meters long instrument, located at an angle of 90 degrees. Before the invention of the telescope, such a quadrant served as a tool for measuring the height of the stars above the horizon and for determining the coordinate of the point from which the measurement was carried out. Ulugbek’s quadrant was the largest in the world at that time, and therefore the most accurate one. The observatory consisted of two parts, and the one that was underground had been preserved.
Mirzo Ulugbek spent days and nights on his observatory. The result of the work was the “Gurgan Zij”, a star catalog, in which an astronomer described 1018 stars and divided them into 38 constellations.
Mirzo Ulugbek was able to calculate the stellar year length with unprecedented accuracy – 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, 8 seconds, and the error was less than a minute. He determined the inclination of the Earth’s axis. During his lifetime, the scientific works of Ulugbek were known all over the world. Chinese wrote and said about him and used the astronomical calculations of Ulugbek. After 200 years, the British scientists were engaged in the discoveries of Ulugbek. His scientific works were translated into Latin.
Ulugbek is not only an astronomer, but also a mathematician, enlightener, poet, historian. In the XV century, he urged the people to education: “the Muslim men and women must possess knowledge”. Ulugbek was very strong in his endeavor to enlighten the people. He built madrassas in Bukhara and Samarkand for this purpose. One of the most famous is included in the ensemble on the Registan Square in Samarkand.
Unfortunately, in 1449, Ulugbek was killed, becoming a victim of conspirators. After his death, the observatory functioned for about twenty years before the persecution of scientists.
Near the location of the observatory building, the Mirzo Ulugbek Museum was founded, which opened its doors to the public since the end of 1964. Among the exhibits are photographs from the excavation sites and fragments of frescoes depicting some periods of the ruler’s life, instruments used by astronomers and other objects were found at the research site. In 2010 opposite of the museum building was opened the monument of glorious ruler in ceremonial atmosphere.
