Abu Hamid Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Saghani al-Asturlabi (, referred to by at least one source as á¹¢ÃÂghÃÂnë, was a Persian astronomer and historian of science. His name means "the astrolabe maker of Saghan, near Merv". He flourished in Baghdad, where he died in 990.
Al-Asturlabi wrote some of the earliest comments on the history of science. These included the following comparison between the "ancients" (including the ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Indians) and the "modern scholars" (the Muslim scientists of his time):