First Scientist: Ibn Al-Haytham

by Bradley Steffens

Award-winning author Bradley Steffens introduces Ibn al-Haytham in this first full biography ever written about him. Though not a household name as far as the history of science goes, with his major contributions going largely unnoticed and uncredited, Ibn al-Haytham, who lived a thousand years ago, is finally being recognized as the world's first true scientist. Centuries before better-known researchers such as Roger Bacon, Leonardo da Vinci, and Galileo Galilei were born, Ibn al-Haytham investigated eyesight and the propagation of light in a profound manner, the likes of which had never before been fully utilized, and documented his findings in his magnum opus Book of Optics. By systematically using experiments to test his hypotheses, Ibn al-Haytham changed the course of human history, giving humankind a new and effective way of establishing facts about the natural world―an approach known today as the scientific method.

130 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2021

About the author

Bradley Steffens is a novelist, poet, and author of more than seventy nonfiction books for children and young adults.

Kirkus Reviews named his The Dark Side of Social Media one of the ten Best Young Adult Nonfiction Books of 2021. Steffens is a two-time recipient of the San Diego Book Award for Best Young Adult & Children's Nonfiction. His Giants won the 2005 award and his People in the News: J.K. Rowling received the 2007 prize. J.K. Rowling also received the Theodor S. Geisel Award for the best published book by a San Diego County author in 2007. Five of Steffens' books, including Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, have been selected by California Readers to be part of the California Collections.

Steffens' poetry has appeared in more than seventy literary journals, including Crosscurrents, Sidewalks, Loonfeather, Stone Country, and The Bellingham Review. Steffens has won several prizes for his poetry, including the Emerging Voices Award presented by The Loft Literary Center, the Lake Superior Writing Competition sponsored by the Duluth Public Library, and the annual poetry contest sponsored by the Saint Paul chapter of the American Association of University Women.

The Minneapolis-based Olympia Arts Ensemble produced his play-in-verse, Virodha-Bhakti, a Sequence of Pageants in 1981. Noel Bredahl of the St. Paul Post-Dispatch hailed the play as "an awesome creation on the part of the playwright." David Hawley, also of the St. Paul Post Dispatch, wrote, “Steffens is a powerful, talented artist."