the book of optics is a book that was written by ibn al haytham (965–1040 ce), an arabic scientist and polymath. it was a seven-volume treatise on optics, physics, mathematics, anatomy and psychology, from 1011 to 1021. it was originally written in arabic and was later translated into persian, latin and italian within the next several centuries. the book had an important influence on the development of optics and on science in general because it introduced the experimental scientific method. ibn al-haytham has been called the "father of modern optics". ibn al-haytham wrote more than 200 works on a wide range of subjects, of which at least 96 of his scientific works are known.