Al-Khwarizmi
~780–850 · Persian (Abbasid Caliphate) · Islamic Golden Age
Known for: Father of algebra whose name became the word 'algorithm'
Al-Khwarizmi worked in Baghdad's House of Wisdom and essentially invented algebra—the word comes from the title of his book, al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala. His name became the word 'algorithm.' He also introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to the Western world.
He created mathematical tools for commerce, inheritance calculation, and surveying—practical math for a sprawling empire.
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