Polymath · 1048 – 1131
Omar Khayyam
Little-Known Facts
- His calendar was more accurate than the Gregorian calendar used today.
- His fame as a poet in the West rests largely on Edward FitzGerald's 19th-century English translation.
Myths & Misconceptions
Was Omar Khayyam mainly a poet?
In his own time he was renowned as a mathematician and astronomer; his fame as a poet grew chiefly in the West centuries later through translation of the Rubaiyat.