Abbas Ibn Firnas : biography

Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887 A.D.), also known as Abbas Abu Al-Qasim Ibn Firnas Ibn Wirdas al-Takurini ( Berber: Ɛebbas Ufirnas), was a Muslim Berber-Andalusian polymath:« Ibn Firnas (‘Abbâs) » by Ahmed Djebbar, Dictionnaire culturel des science, by Collective under the direction of Nicolas Witkowski, Du Regard Editions, 2003, ISBN 2-84105-128-5.Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111 [100]: an inventor, engineer, aviator, physician, Arabic-language poet, and Andalusian musician. Of Berber descent, he was born in Izn-Rand Onda, Al-Andalus (today’s Ronda, Spain), lived in the Emirate of Córdoba, and is reputed to have attempted flight.Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111 [100f.]

Armen Firman

Armen Firman may be the Latinized name of Abbas Ibn Firnas, or, alternatively, he may have been the man who inspired Ibn Firnas.

There is some contradiction in the modern record: According to some secondary sources, about 20 years before Ibn Firnas attempted to fly he may have witnessed Firman as he wrapped himself in a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts and jumped from a tower in Córdoba, intending to use the garment as wings on which he could glide. The alleged attempt at flight was unsuccessful, but the garment slowed his fall enough that he only sustained minor injuries.

However, there is no reference to Armen Firman in other secondary sources, all of which deal exhaustively with Ibn Firnas’ flight attempt.Terias, Elias, "Sobre el vuelo de Abbas Ibn Firnas", Al-Andalus, Vol. 29, No. 2 (1964), p. 365–369Lévi-Provençal, E. "ʿAbbās b. Firnās b. Wardūs, Abu ‘l-Ḳāsim." Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition, Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs, 2009 Since this story was recorded only in a single primary source, al-Maqqari, and since Firman’s jump is said to have been Ibn Firnas’ source of inspiration, the lack of any mention of Firman in al-Maqqari’s account may point to the conclusion that he never existed and that his tower jump was later confused with Ibn Firnas’ gliding attempt in secondary writings.

Work

Ibn Firnas designed a water clock called Al-Maqata, devised a means of manufacturing colorless glass, invented various glass planispheres, made corrective lenses ("reading stones"), devised a chain of rings that could be used to simulate the motions of the planets and stars, and developed a process for cutting rock crystal that allowed Spain to cease exporting quartz to Egypt to be cut.

In his house, he built a room in which spectators witnessed stars, clouds, thunder, and lightning, which were produced by mechanisms located in his basement laboratory. He also devised "some sort of metronome."

The crater Ibn Firnas on the Moon is named in his honor.

Aviation

A single missive mentions Firnas employing wings for flight- composed seven centuries after the reputed undertaking by the Moroccan historian Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (d. 1632):Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111 [101]

Al-Maqqari is said to have used in his history works "many early sources no longer extant", but in case of Firnas the only one cited by him was a 9th-century poem written by Mu’min ibn Said, a court poet of Córdoba under Muhammad I (d. 886), who was acquainted with and usually critical of Ibn Firnas. The pertinent verse runs: "He flew faster than the phoenix in his flight when he dressed his body in the feathers of a vulture." No other surviving sources refer to the event.Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111 [101]:

It has been suggested that Ibn Firnas’ attempt at glider flight might have inspired the attempt by Eilmer of Malmesbury between 1000 and 1010 in England but there is no evidence supporting this hypothesis.