Al-Khazini's Balance of Wisdom
Balanza de la sabiduría de al-Jazini
- Date
- 1121 · confidence high
- Place
- Merv, Mary, Turkmenistan
- Credited to
- Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
Hydrostatic balance with five pans and a graduated arm for weighing in air and in water, giving specific gravities and detecting counterfeit metals and gems. His treatise also records the idea that gravity varies with distance from the Earth's centre.
Dedicated to the Seljuk sultan Sanjar.
What it led to
- control of alloys and coinage
- precise density tables
- medieval statics