Founding of Baghdad
Caliph Al-Mansur founds the city of Baghdad, which grows into the political and intellectual heart of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Founding of the House of Wisdom
Caliph Al-Ma'mun establishes the Bayt al-Hikma in Baghdad, an institute for translation, study and research.
Al-Khwarizmi lays the foundations of algebra
The Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi writes his influential treatise on algebra, laying the foundation for modern mathematics.
al-Razi writes medical encyclopaedias
The Persian physician Al-Razi (Rhazes) completes his extensive medical works, including the Kitab al-Hawi.
Córdoba flourishes as a cultural center of Al-Andalus
Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city grows into one of the most enlightened cities in Europe, with libraries, universities and religious tolerance.
Ibn al-Haytham revolutionises optics
The mathematician and physicist Ibn al-Haytham completes his groundbreaking Book of Optics, which lays the foundation for the modern science of light.
Ibn Sina completes the Canon of Medicine
The Persian polymath Ibn Sina (Avicenna) writes his monumental medical encyclopaedia, which becomes the standard for centuries in both the Islamic world and Europe.
Al-Biruni studies India and the world
The versatile scholar Al-Biruni completes his work Kitab al-Hind, an in-depth study of Indian culture, science and religion.
Mongol siege of Baghdad
Mongol forces led by Hulagu Khan conquer and destroy Baghdad, marking a symbolic end to the Islamic Golden Age.
Ibn al-Haytham revolutionises optics
Ibn al-Haytham rejected the classical Greek theory that the eye emits light rays and demonstrated experimentally that vision occurs because light enters the eye. His emphasis on experimental proof and systematic methodology makes him one of the founders of the scientific method, centuries before European scientists would embrace the same principles.