Omar Khayyam was a brilliant mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and physician of the 11th century. He contributed to the basic principles of algebra and developed an accurate solar calendar that was used for 800 years. However, he is best known today for his poem "The Rubáiyát."
150-year anniversary of translation of Khayyam's Rubaiyat by Fitz Gerald Many lovers of Persian poetry may recognize these lines as one of the famous Rubâiyâts of Omar Khayyâm, as translated by the 19th century British writer and poet, Edward Fitz Gerald (1809-1883). But few might know that coordinates of 58.0° N, 102.1° W and colongitude of 104° at sunrise are the designation of a lunar crater on the far side from the Earth, named in 1970 after Hakim Omar Khayyâm (1048-1123), the Iranian astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, and yes, poet par excellence.