Abu Hamid Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Saghani al-Asturlabi (, referred to by at least one source as Ṣāghānī, was a Persian astronomer and historian of science. His name means "the astrolabe maker of Saghan, near Merv". He flourished in Baghdad, where he died in 379-380 A.H/ 990 A.D. Works Al-Asturlabi wrote some of the earliest comments on the history of science. These included the following comparison between the "ancients" (including the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Indians) and the "modern scholars" (the Muslim scientists of his time): References Sources (PDF version) Further reading Mathematicians from the Abbasid Caliphate Astronomers from the Abbasid Caliphate Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world 10th-century Iranian mathematicians 990 deaths Historians of science Year of birth unknown 10th-century Iranian astronomers 10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate