Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi

10th-century Persian astronomer who first documented galaxies beyond the Milky Way, challenging Earth-centric cosmology.

Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (903–986 CE), known in the West as Azophi, made extraordinary astronomical breakthroughs in his Book of Fixed Stars (964 CE). While European science stagnated, this Persian scholar mapped the Andromeda Galaxy—calling it ‘Little Cloud’—1,000 years before Galileo’s telescope.

Al-Sufi’s revolutionary steps included:

• First recorded observation of the Large Magellanic Cloud
• Accurate descriptions of stellar magnitudes
• Integration of Greek and Islamic star names