Mirza Muhammad Taraghay bin Shahrukh, better known as Ulugh Beg, was a Timurid sultan, as well as an astronomer and mathematician.
19 Facts About Ulugh Beg
2.
Ulugh Beg was recognized as the most important observational astronomer from the 15th century by many scholars.
3.
Ulugh Beg was a grandson of the great conqueror and king, Timur, and the oldest son of Shah Rukh, both of whom came from the Turkicized Barlas tribe of Transoxiana.
4.
Ulugh Beg's mother was a noblewoman named Gawhar Shad, daughter of a member of the representative Turkic tribal aristocracy, Ghiyasuddin Tarkhan.
5.
Ulugh Beg was born in Sultaniyeh during his grandfather's invasion of Persia.
6.
Sixteen-year-old Ulugh Beg subsequently became the governor of the former capital of Samarkand in 1409.
7.
In 1428, Ulugh Beg built an enormous observatory, similar to Tycho Brahe's later Uraniborg as well as Taqi al-Din's observatory in Constantinople.
8.
The observatory built by Ulugh Beg was the most pervasive and well-known observatory throughout the Islamic world.
9.
Ulugh Beg utilized dimensions from al-Sufi and based his star catalogue on a new analysis that was autonomous from the data used by Ptolemy.
10.
In 1437, Ulugh Beg determined the length of the sidereal year as 365.2570370.
11.
In mathematics, Ulugh Beg wrote accurate trigonometric tables of sine and tangent values correct to at least eight decimal places.
12.
Once Ulugh Beg became governor of Samarqand, he fostered diplomatic relations with the Yongle emperor of the Ming dynasty.
13.
Ulugh Beg's emissaries came across Ghiyath al-din Naqqash and other envoys representing Shah Rukh, Prince Baysunghur, and other Timurid authorities in Beijing; however, they stayed at separate hostelries.
14.
In 1447, upon learning of the death of his father Shah Rukh, Ulugh Beg went to Balkh.
15.
Ulugh Beg defeated his nephew and advanced toward Herat, massacring its people in 1448.
16.
Ulugh Beg retreated to Balkh where he found that its governor, his oldest son Abdal-Latif Mirza, had rebelled against him.
17.
However, Ulugh Beg was forced to retreat to Samarkand before any fighting took place, having heard news of turmoil in the city.
18.
Abdal-Latif soon reached Samarkand and Ulugh Beg involuntarily surrendered to his son.
19.
However, he ensured Ulugh Beg never reached his destination, having him, as well as his brother Abdal-Aziz assassinated in 1449.