Ali Qushji

Ali Qushji (1403–1474), born Ala al-Din Ali in Samarkand, was a Timurid astronomer and mathematician whose epithet means falconer, after his father who kept Ulugh Beg's birds. He joined Ulugh Beg's observatory in Samarkand, contributing to the Zij-i-Sultani star tables.

After Ulugh Beg's assassination he travelled west, and around 1470 reached Constantinople as the envoy of Uzun Hasan. Welcomed by Mehmed II, he stayed, helped found the Sahn-ı Seman madrasa, and taught there until his death in 1474, arguing for an astronomy independent of natural philosophy and discussing the rotation of the Earth.