Ibn al-Saffar, Andalusian Astronomer

Ibn al-Saffar

Abu al‐Qasim Ahmad ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar al‐Ghafiqī ibn al-Saffar al‐Andalusi (b. Cordoba - d. 1035 at Denia), Ibn al-Saffar (literally: son of the brass worker) was a close colleague and astronomer at the school founded by al-Majriti in Cordoba.  His most well known work was a treatise on the astrolabe.  The work was still published until the 15th century and influenced the work of Kepler.  Ibn Saffar also wrote a commentary on the Zij al-Sindhind,  and measured the coordinates to Mecca.