Abdelhamid Ibrahim Sabra (1924-2013) was a professor of thehistory of science specializing in thehistory of optics andscience in medieval Islam. He died December 18, 2013. Sabra provided English translation and commentary for Books I-III^[1] ofIbn al-Haytham's seven bookKitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics), written in Arabic in the 11th century.

Sabra received his undergraduate degree at theUniversity of Alexandria. He then studiedphilosophy of science withKarl Popper at theUniversity of London, where he received a PhD in 1955 for a thesis on optics in the 17th century. He taught at the University of Alexandria 1955–62, at theWarburg Institute 1962–72, and atHarvard University from 1972 until he retired in 1996.

In his article on "The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in Medieval Islam", he argued, against the theories ofPierre Duhem, that Islamic cultures did not passively receive and preserve ancient Greek science, but actively "appropriated" and modified it.^[2]

In 2005 he was awarded theSarton Medal for lifetime achievement in the history of science by theHistory of Science Society.^[3]

• 1954. "A Note on a Suggested Modification of Newton's Corpuscular Theory of Light to Reconcile it with Foucault's Experiment of 1850."British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 5, pp. 149–51.
• 1967Theories of Light from Descartes to Newton, (Oldbourne), (reprint Cambridge University Press, 1981), 363 pages.
• 1984. "The Andalusian Revolt Against Ptolemaic Astronomy: Averroes and al-Bitrûjî." pp. 233–53 in Everett Mendelsohn, ed.Transformation and Tradition in the Sciences: Essays in honor of I. Bernard Cohen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• 1987. "The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in Medieval Islam."History of Science 25, pp. 223–43.
• 1996. "Situating Arabic Science: Localityversus Essence,"Isis, 87, pp. 654–670 (reprinted in Michael H. Shank, ed.,The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000, pp. 215–31).

• A. I. Sabra's biography at Harvard
• Obituary

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