| The Kitab al-Hiyal Project Crew |
| • Ali Altug Kirişoğlu |
| • Burak Aslan |
| • Keremcan Gümüştaş |
 |
Kitab al-Hiyal
Al Jazari's Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices
This manuscript is written by Al Jazari who lived during the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries under the Artuqid state which was ruling today's Turkish south eastern town of Diyarbakir. Al Jazari served as an irrigation engineer at the palace for 25 years. He was developing several mechanical devices ahead of the era he belonged, mainly to help the irrigation and when he got old he was commissioned by the sultan to write a book of his knowledge in order to not loose and pass it to the future. Thus came out his book in which he described his works with artistically made technical drawings and miniatures of several devices he created for irrigation as well as other automated devices working mainly with water.
The book contains approximately 300 automated devices and their systems including construction and usage information. All the technical drawings in the book are artistically handmade by Al Jazari who used live colors and details in order to make the devices visually understandable too. As a creative scientist, ahead of his time, his importance of today came out with the rediscovery of his above mentioned book. The book shows that he did not only set up automated systems but also established a controlling balance between several automated devices. Thus, today he is considered as the first scientist who worked on cybernetics and robotics.
Handwritten
in Arabic, the scientific language of the era, the very original book
does not exist today. There are 15 known handwritten copies, five in Istanbul
and ten others in Paris, Oxford, Dublin and Leiden . Kitab al-Hiyal consists
of six chapters, each describing the making and use of different type
of mechanical devices.