Abu Rayhan Beruni’s Globe Reconstructed Based on His Medieval Works In Uzbekistan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — At the Center of Islamic Civilization in Uzbekistan, a reconstruction of Abu Rayhan Beruni’s globe, which has not survived to the present day, has been completed.

The model was created based on the scientist’s works and other scholarly sources, the center’s press service reports.

Beruni originally created the globe in 995 in the city of Kath, one of the major scientific and educational centers of Khwarezm. He aimed to mark geographic features on it and, using the distances between settlements, calculate their geographic latitude and longitude.

His works contain coordinates for about 600 cities. During the reconstruction, 150 settlements were placed on the globe, with the project carried out in collaboration with international partners, according to Professor Bahrom Abdukhalimov, Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan.

“The Beruni globe was not an abstract theoretical model but a practical scientific instrument, developed based on precise geodetic and astronomical calculations and data,” the center notes.

In his Canon Mas’ud, Beruni emphasized that the overall shape of the Earth is close to spherical, while mountains and depressions are negligible compared to its size.

Beruni argued that if the Earth were flat, equilibrium would be disrupted and the land would be submerged under water.

The exhibition also presents fragments of the scientist’s works related to the shape of the Earth, methods for calculating latitude and longitude, and the comparison of data from various sources.