Odd People
Al-Biruni
On his deathbed, what he asked about was not comfort but a calculation
He climbed one hill, measured one angle, and computed the size of the Earth. Then he went off to learn someone else's language and religion.
Eratosthenes needed two cities to measure the Earth. Shadows taken on the same day at two distant places, plus the distance between them — and pacing out that distance is no small task.
Al-Biruni climbed a hill alone. He measured its height, then measured how far below eye level the horizon appeared from the summit. Those two numbers are enough. His answer came within one percent of the modern value.
But the truly unusual thing about him lies elsewhere. Attached to the Ghaznavid campaigns into India, he did not write up India from the conqueror's side. He learned Sanskrit, read Indian scholars in the original, and set out their mathematics, astronomy and beliefs in a book of his own.
I set down what the Indians say, as they say it. Judging it comes after.the spirit of his preface to the India
Set against anything else written at the time, that stance is rare. He transcribed Indian numerals and time units accurately, and where he did not understand something he wrote that he did not understand it.
The last story told of him runs like this. A neighbour visiting his deathbed was asked a question about the calculation of inheritance shares. Is this the moment for that, the neighbour said. Better to die knowing than not knowing, he replied. The neighbour gave the answer, walked a few paces, and by then he was gone.
The question that remainsIf some questions can only be asked in someone else's language — what are we failing to ask?