Al-Jazari — the founding father of programming, robotics, and engineering from Central Asia
by Azis Abakirov and Azat Toroev
The Enlightenment Era introduced many innovations that undeniably changed the way we live. Michelangelo, Gutenberg, and other greats deserve to be revered, but Central Asians should take note of their impressive history. Did you know that a thousand years ago Central Asian engineers produced human-like robots? It all happened during the Golden Age of Central Asia and in many ways thanks to al-Jazari.
Ismail al-Jazari (1136–1206) is often called the Leonardo Da Vinci of the East, even though he lived a few centuries before him. His full name is a mouthful: Badīʿ az-Zaman Abu l-ʿIzz ibn Ismāʿīl ibn ar-Razāz al-Jazarī. History depicts the time of his life and creations as the “Muslim renaissance” and “The Islamic Golden Age”, but I like to call it the “Central Asian Renaissance”. Many great minds came out of that period: Al-Fargani, Makhmud al-Kashgari, Jusup Balasaguni, Al-Khorezmi, and others. A notable example is the Chorezmian scholar al-Biruni who proved that the Earth rotates around its axis and the sun. During his research near the Indian city of Nandan, he managed to calculate the Earth’s surface area. His method is currently called the rule of Biruni.
It all started with the “House Of Wisdom” created by Baghdad’s caliph al-Mamun in the 820s. It was an academic center and a library that accumulated Arabic translations of astronomy, mathematical, medical, alchemic, and philosophical researches from China, India, and Ancient Greece. Baghdad attracted outstanding scholars from all across the caliphate many of whom were from Iran and Central Asia. They joined forces to translate Plato, Aristotle as well as the founders of the Greek medicine: Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides.
There are many things to the name of Muhammed al-Khwarizmi: the decimal system, fractions, trigonometric functions, and other mathematical advancements. The Islamic scholar derived the decimal system from the writings of ancient Indian mathematicians and further disseminated practice among Arabic-speaking multi-ethnic communities. His book “The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing” (Al-kitāb al-mukhtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-ğabr wa’l-muqābala) made him one of the most influential mathematicians in history. The word “al-gabr” in the book’s title was modified in the west to sound like “algebra”. Western scientists used Al-Khwarizmi’s name to describe an order of actions with a result. Today it’s called an algorithm. That would be the first step towards programming.
Al-Jazari was born in Jazari (modern-day Cizre, Turkey). Just like his father he worked as the head engineer in the city of Diyarbakır during the reign of the Artuqids dynasty. In 1206 he wrote “The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices” about the construction of more than 50 mechanisms, including clocks, coded locks, and robots. 52 years later the army of the Mongolian khan Hulagu conquered Baghdad and destroyed the academy and threw all books into the river Tigris.
Al-Jazari’s encyclopedic treatise comprised 6 main categories of machines and devices. Some of the machinery mechanisms and methods later became part of the European engineering lexicon. From cleaning mechanism and a segmental mechanism to a double-acting suction pump with valves and reciprocating piston — most of al-Jazari’s inventions might seem simple today but they revolutionized mechanics and engineering. He invented the crankshaft, probably the second most important mechanical detail after the wheel. His working drawings were used to build push-pull valve pumps, dams, and water-lifting machines.
Centuries before the invention of modern robotics and computers al-Jazari built early automized devices and was one of the first to use the concept of programming. Although he is not widely known, he inarguably founded programming and engineering. Al-Jazari’s contributions led to the creation of the steam engine, internal combustion engine, various automatic control devices, and other modern technology.
THE ELEPHANT CLOCK
Animals and mythical creatures were symbols that represented different cultures. The Indian and African cultures had the elephant, dragon represented Chinese, the phoenix belonged to Persians, water stood for Greek and a turban represented the Islamic culture. Al-Jazari incorporated those symbols in his complicated elephant clock:
- A bowl with a holey bottom floated on water inside the elephant. Eventually it got full and sank;
- It pulled a rope tied to the beam on the elephant’s head;
- That released a metal ball that fell first on the singing falcon’s head and then into the snake’s mouth;
- The snake bent forward and lifted the bowl inside the elephant and the emperor’s hand with strings;
- Meanwhile, the ball fell into a vase and the teamster beat the drum;
- The dial hand turned to indicate half-hour or the full hour.
- The snake would eventually return to the initial position and the cycle began again as long as there were any balls left in the basket.
The reservoir inside the elephant had upper and lower compartments. The upper reservoir was connected to the time mechanism, while the lower controlled the force of the flow. At the dawn, he opened the tap so that the water from the upper compartment leaked into the lower reservoir. That helped maintain correct pressure. That adjusted the clock to uneven day length depending on the season.
All kinds of automotive devices, including programmed humanoid machines, were al-Jazari’s passion. The idea of creating human-like machines had been relevant among Central Asian engineers since the Middle Ages. Al-Jazari created musical robots after the musicians who played on boats during big celebrations. He also had a robot-servant pouring tea, water, and wine. The drinks, kept in a special reservoir, poured into a big jug and then into a cup. When it got full, automatic doors revealed a woman who served drinks to the guests.
We often underestimate the history of our common ancestors by saying that all we had in the past was the nomadic or settled lifestyles. What if that history was kept silent on purpose?
Central Asia is the birthplace of innovation, technology, sciences, and philosophy. With this research, I hope to inspire young people of our region to study tech, robotics, and programming. It’s time to resurrect what was done thousands of years ago by our ancestors. Let’s stay in Central Asia and work with the world!
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