The Samarqand Observatory The Samarqand observatory dates from
1424. It was built By Uluh Beg (1394-1449). Uluh Beg was a
prince keen on the sciences, enjoying the company of, and
discussions with scholars. The observatory of Samarqand was a
`monumental' building equipped with a huge meridian, made of
masonry, a ‘Fakhri sextant’, of a radius of 40.4 metres. John
Greaves writing in 1652, says that according to a trustworthy
Turkish astronomer, the radius of that meridian arc was about
equal to the height of the dome of the Ayasofya Mosque in
Istanbul, thus, approximately fifty metres. At Samarqand worked
100 scientists. Amongst these was al-Khashi (famed for his work
on practical mathematics for astronomers, surveyors, architects,
clerks and merchants,) and Qadi-Zade who was the head of the
madrasa. Samarqand, in the early decades of the 15th century,
Krisciunas observes, was `the astronomical capital of the
world.’ Observations were made there for almost three decades,
and resulted in 1437 in the Ilkhanide Ta