byname of Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʽUmar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Neyshābūrī al-Khayyāmī
born May 18, 1048, Neyshābūr, Khorāsān
died Dec. 4, 1131, Neyshābūr
Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer.
Educated in the sciences and philosophy, he was renowned in his country and time for his scientific achievements, but few of his prose writings survive. His verses attracted little attention until his robāʽīyāt ("quatrains") were loosely translated into English by Edward FitzGerald and published in 1859. Many of the quatrains (each of which was intended as an independent poem) are of doubtful attribution; most scholars agree on the authenticity of about 50, with controversy over some 200 others.