Science·Later empires
Taqi al-Din Opens Istanbul Observatory
- Date
- 1577 CE985 AH449 years ago
- Place
- Istanbul, Ottoman Empire
- People
- Taqi al-Din, Murad III
Taqi al-Din, the Ottoman scholar, built an observatory in Istanbul in 1577 under Sultan Murad III. He recorded the positions of comets and planets, and he worked on new astronomical tables. The observatory was closed a few years later after complaints from religious leaders.
Why it matters
It was one of the few major astronomical centers in the Ottoman Empire before the modern period.