Biography Al Biruni, Teacher of all sciences and the first anthropologist
Al-biruni has the quality of analysis in a variety of fields of knowledge, which are scattered through 180 books, making many modern, Muslim or non-Muslim scholars dub him "Ustadz fil Ulum" or "teacher of all sciences."
Al-Biruni has been named the first anthropologist in the world and also the father of Indology. Indology is a scientific study of the history, culture, language and literature of the Indian subcontinent. In 1017 AD, he traveled to the Indian subcontinent and wrote a study of Indian culture Tārīkh al-Hind (Indian History) after exploring Hinduism which was practiced in India.
Another Al-Biruni study is in mapping the earth. Some modern scholars agree to call him Mr. Geodesy. Al-Biruni once explained the accurate coordinates of the longitude and latitude of 600 important cities in his time, complete with a measure of distance between locations and directions to the Qibla. This information is contained in his work, The Book of Taḥdid Nihayat Al-Amakin Li-Taṣḥiḥ Masafat Al-Masakin (Stipulation of Location Coordinates for Correcting Inter-City Distances).
Al-Biruni measured the circumference of the earth in a simple way and the results only missed less than 1 percent of modern calculations. He concluded, the circumference of the earth was 25,000 miles, and modern calculations recorded 24,901 miles. His Tahdid book, depicting a map of the world that painted the land of the earth surrounded by vast waters, and is now called the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans.
Al-Biruni also writes about mineralogical studies in the Book of Al-Jamahir Fi Ma'rifat Al-Jawahir or the Complete Book of Understanding Gemstones. This book explains the method of measuring weight, volume, weight, and color to determine the authenticity of many types of stones and precious metals, such as gold, silver, bronze, ruby, emerald, jazuli, copper, iron, and others.