Prominent Persian astronomer, mathematician and poet Omar Hajjam was born on this day in 1048. He lived in the time when Persia (modern Iran) was under the rule of the Seljuk Turks. He was born in the city of Nishapur in what is now northeast Iran. He later moved to Samarkand and Bukhara, historically very important cities in Central Asia. Omar Hajjam was a follower of the teachings of Avicenna, also known as Ibn Sina, one of the most famous of all Muslim intellectuals.
As an expert mathematician and astronomer, Omar Hajjam participated in the reform of the Persian calendar. He managed to produce one of the most precise calendars in the world. According to some, this system is even more precise than the ones currently in use. Omar Hajjam died in Horasam in Eastern Anatolia in 1131, aged 83.