Abu-Mahmud Khojandi

Who was Abu-Mahmud Khojandi?

Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn Khidr Khojandi was a Central Asian astronomer and mathematician with Mongol origin who lived in the late 10th century and helped build an observatory, near the city of Ray, in Iran. He was born in Khujand; a bronze bust of the astronomer is present in a park in modern-day Khujand, now part of Tajikistan.

The few facts about Khujandi's life that are known come from his surviving writings as well as from comments made by Nassereddin Tusi. From Tusi's comments it is fairly certain that Khujandi was one of the rulers of the Mongol tribe in the Khudzhand region, and thus must have come from the nobility.