Ahmad al-Farghoniy was one of the greatest scientists in astronomy, mathematics and geography of his time in Asia.

He was born in Ferghana valley in the village of Kubo in 798. There is almost no information left about this scientist. But it is known that he had invented “Nilometer”, a device used for measuring the level of the river Nile, in 861. This invention made him famous all over the East.
His main book in Astronomy called “The bases of Astronomy” was widely spread in the West. This work was translated into Latin and named “Alfraganus”. It had been used as a textbook for many years. Now there are many manuscripts of this book which are kept in many libraries of the world.
Al-Farghoniy also wrote such scientific works as “The book off making astrolabes”, “Al-Farghoniy’s tables” and “The book about making the sundial”. Their manuscripts are nowadays preserved in the libraries of London, Paris and Berlin.
In science al-Farghoniy’s name has been introduced as “Alfraganus”. His name is mentioned with pride in many works of the authors of the West and East. In 1998, with the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan we celebrated his 1200th anniversary.