About

Team

• Osama Eshera

  Assistant Research Professor, Roshan Institute for Persian Studies, University of Maryland. Dr. Eshera completed his Ph.D. in 2022 under the supervision of Professor Robert Wisnovsky in the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. His dissertation included the first critical edition of the treatise on Metaphysics of Avicenna's philosophical summa Kitāb al-Najāt (The Salvation) as well as the first critical edition of another, closely related treatise on metaphysics by Avicenna, al-Mabdaʾ wa-l-maʿād (The Provenance and the Destination). Publications of the critical editions, along with English translations and introductions, are forthcoming.

• Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan

  Dr. Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan is a historian of science specializing in pre-modern Islamic astronomy and mathematics and their interactions with other cultures. His research, employing textual criticism, philology, and scholarly editing, spans various mathematical sciences of the ancient and medieval periods. His PhD dissertation at McGill University, "The Reception of Ptolemy's Latitude Theories in Islamic Astronomy," highlighted overlooked aspects of Ptolemy's latitude theories, revealing rich debates among Islamic astronomers and offering the first history of latitude theories in Islamic astronomy. Collaborating with Prof. F. Jamil Ragep, he studied Ibn al-Shāṭir's and Copernicus's planetary models, showing how the former's innovations influenced the latter. This work was published in a peer-reviewed journal. With Dr. Osama Eshera, he researched medieval Arabic receptions of Autolycus of Pitane’s geometrical works, resulting in a journal article and an upcoming monograph. Dr. Nikfahm-Khubravan also studies medieval astronomical tables and instruments. His MA thesis focused on the linear astrolabe. He co-authored studies on Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s treatises and explored Avicenna's addendum to Ptolemy's Almagest, offering a critical edition and commentary.

• Fateme Savadi

  Dr. Savadi specializes in the history of science and philosophy in the premodern Islamic world and her research is mainly focused on textual criticism, philology, and scholarly editing. She received her Ph.D. in 2019 from McGill University's Institute of Islamic Studies and until recently served as a Postdoctoral Researcher on the project, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and directed by Professor Robert Wisnovsky, "Muḥammad ʿAbduh's Supercommentary on al-Dawānī's Commentary on al-Ījī's Creed: A New Source for the Renewal of Islamic Analytical Theology." In that role, she served as the lead editor for the Arabic critical editions. Moreover, her doctoral dissertation includes a critical edition and English translation of Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī's Nihāyat al-idrāk Book III (on geography) and is under contract for publication with Brill in their series Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies.

Advisory Board

• F. Jamil Ragep

  Professor Emeritus, (Formerly) Canada Research Chair in the History of Science in Islamic Societies, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada); Executive Board Member, Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative; Honorary Member, Turkish Academy of Sciences

• Sally P. Ragep

  Senior Researcher (Retired), Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada); Executive Board Member, Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative

• Robert Wisnovsky

  James McGill Professor of Islamic Philosophy, Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)

Contact

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