Banū Mūsā

Drawing of Self trimming lamp in Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir's treatise on mechanical devices. The manuscript was written in Arabic.

The Banū Mūsā brothers (Arabic: بنو موسى‎, "Sons of Mūsā") were three 9th century Persian^[1][2] scholars, of Baghdad, active in the House of Wisdom:

• Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (before 803 – 873) (Arabic: محمد بن موسى بن شاكر‎) ,^[3] who specialised in astronomy, engineering, geometry and physics.
• Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (803 – 873) (Arabic: أحمد بن موسى بن شاكر‎) , who specialised in engineering and mechanics.
• Al-Hasan ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir (810 – 873) (Arabic: الحسن بن موسى بن شاكر‎) , who specialised in engineering and geometry.

The Banu Musa were the sons of Mūsā ibn Shākir, who had been a highwayman and later an astrologer to the Caliph al-Ma'mūn. At his death, he left his young sons in the custody of the Caliph, who entrusted them to Ishaq bin Ibrahim al-Mus'abi, a former governor of Baghdad. The education of the three brothers was carried out by Yahya bin Abu Mansur who worked at the famous House of Wisdom library and translation centre in Baghdad.

Contents

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• 1 Works
  • 1.1 Book of Ingenious Devices
  • 1.2 Book on the motion of the orbs
  • 1.3 Astral Motion and The Force of Attraction
  • 1.4 On mechanics
  • 1.5 Premises of the book of conics
  • 1.6 The Book of the Measurement of Plane and Spherical Figures
  • 1.7 The elongated circular figure
• 2 See also
• 3 Notes
• 4 References