Al-Jazari

1136–1206 CE Mesopotamia Engineering & Robotics

Key Contribution: Father of robotics. Invented programmable automata, the crankshaft, and mechanical clocks.

Preceded the West: Built the first programmable machines and the crankshaft 300 years before European engineers.

Badi al-Zaman Abu al-Izz Ismail ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari was a polymath, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, and artist from the Artuqid dynasty of Jazira in Mesopotamia. His masterwork, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206), describes 50 mechanical devices with instructions on how to construct them. He invented the crankshaft — perhaps the most important single mechanical invention after the wheel — as well as the camshaft, segmental gear, and the combination lock. His programmable automata include musical robots and a hand-washing automaton with a flush mechanism. His "Elephant Clock" is considered the first device to display multiple cultural influences (Indian, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, and Islamic) in a single machine. He is widely regarded as the father of robotics and a pioneer of cybernetics.