The Samarkand Observatory and Astronomical School of Ulugh Beg

[Ulugh Beg’s interest in astronomy and mathematics was roused when, still a youngster, he visited the remains of Maragha Observatory where the astronomer Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274) had compiled the Zīj-i Īlkhānī. – first claimed by Kevin Krisciunas(?)]

According to a letter written by Ghiyāth al-Dīn Jamshīd ibn Masʿūd al-Kāshī (d. 1429?) astronomical activities in Samarkand began around 1408-10 and the construction of the Samarkand Observatory was begun in 823 AH [1420].

According to ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Samarqandī, the foundations of the Samarkand Observatory were laid in 823 AH [1420] [check: it could refer to the UB Madrassa?]. It was built on north side of Timurid Samarkand, north-east of the ruins of the old city of Samarkand (razed in 1220 by Genghis Khan) which is now known as the Afrāsiyāb. Note that several sources, both early as modern, erroneously identify the site of the observatory with a hilltop locally known as Kūhak (“Little Mountain”) or Chupān Ātā [“Father of the Shepherds”] which is the highest point of a row of hills located about 2 km to the north-east of the observatory.

According to the Bāburnāma of Ẓahīr-ad-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur (1483-1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timūr, the observatory was three stories high.

The site of the Samarakand Observatory was discovered in 1908 by Vasiliy Lavrentievič Vyatkin (1869-1932).

Major Studies on Ulugh Beg and his Astronomical School

• Bartol’d, Vasilij Vladimirovič [Barthold, Wilhelm], Ulugbek i ego vremya (St. Petersburg: ???, 1918 [= Mémoires de l’Académie des Sciences de Russie, VIIIe série, Classe historico-philologique, 13, nr. 5) [local pdf link] – reprinted in Sochineniya: Tom II, Chast’ 2 Sočineniya v 9-ti tomah. Tom 2. častь 2. Rabotы po otdelьnыm problemam istorii Sredneй Azii (Moscow: Izdate’lstvo “Nauka”, 1964), pp. 23-196 [local pdf link].
• Turkish translation by Akdes Nimet Kurat, Uluğ Bey ve Zamanı (Istanbul: Evkaf Matbaası, 1930).
• German translation by Walther Hinz, Uluğ Beg und seine Zeit (Leipzig: Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, 1935 [= Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, 21, nr. 1]) – reprinted in: ??? (Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, 1998 [= Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science: Islamic Mathematics and Astronomy, nr. 54]).
• English translation by Vladimir Minorsky & T. Minorsky, Four Studies on the History of Central Asia: Volume II. Ulugh Beg (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1958) [local pdf link].
• Persian translation by Husayn Ahmedi Pur [check].
• Masson, Mikhail Evgen’evič, Observatoriâ Ulugbeka (Tashkent: “FAN”, 1941) [local pdf link].
• Kary-Niâzov, Tašmuhamed Niâzovič, Observatoriâ Ulugbeka v svete novyh dannyh [“The Observatory of Ulugh Beg in the Light of New Information”] (Tashkent: ???, 1947) [check].
• Leonov, Nikolaĭ Ivanovič, Ulugbek: Velikiĭ astronom XV veka (Moscow: ???, 1949) – reprinted in 1950 [local pdf link].
• Kary-Niâzov, Tašmuhamed Niâzovič, Astronomičeskaâ škola Ulugbeka [“The Astronomical School of Ulugh Beg”] (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Akademii Nauk SSSR, 1950) [local pdf link] – a second enlarged edition was published in T.N. Kary-Niâzov, Izbrannye trudy [Collected Works], vol. 6 (Tashkent: “FAN”, 1967).
• Ščeglov, Vladimir Petrovič, Observatoriâ Ulugbeka v Samarkande (???: ???, 1958) – published on the occasion of the 10th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Moscow (12-20 August 1958).
• French translation: L’observatoire d’Ouloug-Beg a Samarkande ([Moscow]: Academie des Sciences de l’URSS, 1958) [local pdf link].
• Golubev, Gleb Nikolaevič, Ulugbek (Moscow: ???, 1960) [local pdf link].
• Leonov, Nikolaĭ Ivanovič, Nauchnyi podvig samarkandskikh astronomov (???: ???, 1960).
• Arends, Al’fred Karlovič (ed.), Iz historii épochi Ulugbeka (Tashkent: Akademija Nauk Uzbekskoj, 1965) [local pdf link] – contains:
• Akhmedov, B.A., “Ulugbek i političeskaya žizn’ maverannakhra pervoĭ Polovini XV v.”, pp. 5-66.
• Kary-Niâzov, Tašmuhamed Niâzovič, “Ulugbek – Velikiĭ astronom XV v.”, pp. 67-99.
• Voronovskii, D.G., “Astronomi sredneĭ azii ot Mukhammeda al-Khavarazmi do Ulugbeka i ego Shkoli (IX–XVI vv.)”, pp. 100-172.
• Siraždinov, S.Ch. & Matvievskaya, Galina Pavlovna, “O matematičeskikh rabotakh školi Ulugbeka”, pp. 173-199.
• Shishkin, V.L., “Samarkandskaya Ulugbeka Observatoriya”, pp. 200-226.
• Pugačenkova, G.A., “Arkhitekturnie pamyatniki maverannakhra épochi Ulugbeka”, pp. 227-255.
• Bulatova, V.A., “K istorii složeniy ansamblya Shakh-i-Zinda v XV v.”, pp. 256-273.
• Davidovič, E.A., “Materiali dlya kharakteristiki denežnoĭ reformi Ulugbeka”, pp. 274-299.
• Čekhovič, O.D., “Iz istočniкov po istorii Samarkanda XV v.”, pp. 300-361
• Nasirov, Abdulla, “Ukazatel’ literaturi (istočnikov) o žizni i deyatel’nosti Ulugbeka”, pp. 362-377.
• Siraždinov, S.Ch. (ed.), Iz historii nauki épochi Ulugbeka (Tashkent: Akademija Nauk Uzbekskoj, 1965) – same as previous entry?
• Göker, Lütfi, Uluğ Bey: Medresesi ve Rasathanesi (Ankara: Elif Matbaası, 1979) [check].
• Ščeglov, Vladimir Petrovič, [“The Ulugh Beg Observatory”] (Tashkent: Izdatel’stvo “FAN” Uzbekskoj SSR, 1979) [check].
• Takhirov, Mumin, Pedagogicheskie vzgliady Mirzy Ulugbeka (Tashkent: Izdatel’stvo “FAN” Uzbekskoi SSR, 1984) [check].
• Nil’sen, V.A., Observatoriâ Ulugbeka v Samarkande (Tashkent: ???, 1986) [check].
• Nil’sen, V.A., Observatoriâ Ulugbeka (Tashkent: ???, 1987) [check] – Uzbek translation.
• Dizer, Muammer, Uluğ Bey (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı, 1989 [= Kültür Bakanlığı yayınları, nr. 1106 = Türk büyükleri dizisi, nr. 125]) [check].
• Mamadazimov, Mamadmuso, Ulughbek va uning rasadkhonasi (???: ???, 1994).
• Göker, Lütfi, Uluğ Bey: Rasathanesi ve Medresesi (Istanbul: Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı, 1995).
• Matvievskaja, Galina Pavlovna & Sokolovkaja, Zinaida Kuz’minčna, Ulugbek 1394-1449 (Moscow: “Nauka”, 1997) [local pdf link].

Front and reverse of an astrolabe made in 830 AH [= 1426/27 CE] by Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar ibn ʿUmar al-Aṣṭurlābī and probably commissioned by Ulugh Beg or his father Shāhrukh (Copenhagen, David Collection, inv. no. D 25/1986 [IC 3595]). Note that the horizon plate seen below the rete on the left image is mounted upside down.

Contemporary and Early Descriptions of the Observatory and the Instruments

• Leyden, John & Erskine, William, Memoirs of Zehir-ed-Din Muhammed Baber, Emperor of Hindustan, written by himself, in the Jaghatai Turki [...] with Notes and a Geographical and Historical Introduction, together with a Map of the Countries between the Oxus and Jaxartes, and a Memoir regarding its Construction [...] (London/Edinburgh: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green/Cadell and Co., 1826), pp. 48-55 [Internet Archive link] – Bābur’s description of Samarkand and the observatory of Ulugh Beg in 903 AH [= 1497].
• Beveridge, Annette Susannah, The Bābur-nāma in English (Memoirs of Bābur). Translated from the original Turki Text of Zahiru’d-dīn Muḥammad Bābur Pādshāh Ghāzī: Vol. I (London: Lusac & Co., 1922) [Internet Archive link / Internet Archive link], vol. I, pp. 74-86 – Bābur’s description of Samarkand and the observatory of Ulugh Beg in 903 AH [= 1497].
• Kennedy, Edward Stewart, “A Letter of Jamshīd al-Kāshī to His Father: Scientific Research and Personalities at a Fifteenth-Century Court”, Orientalia, Nova Series, 29 (1960), 191-213 [JSTOR link] – reprinted in E.S. Kennedy, Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1983), pp. 722-744.
• Sayılı, Aydın, Uluğ Bey ve Semerkand’deki ilim faaliyeti hakkında Gıyasüddin-i Kâşî’nin mektubu [“Ghiyâth al Dîn al Kâshî’s Letter on Ulugh Bey and the Scientific Activity in Samarqand”] (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1960 [= Türk Tarih Kurumu yayınlarından, VII. seri, nr. 39]).
• Kennedy, Edward Stewart, “Al-Kāshī’s Treatise on Astronomical Observational Instruments”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 20 (1961), 98-108 [JSTOR link] – reprinted in E.S. Kennedy, Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences (Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1983), pp. 394-404.
• Savage-Smith, Emilie & Belloli, Andrea P.A., Islamicate Celestial Globes: Their History, Construction, and Use (Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985 [= Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, nr. 46]), pp. 247-248 [nr. 60] [Smithsonian Libraries link] – description of a celestial globe claimed to be from the Samarkand Observatory.
• Bagheri, Mohammad, Az Samarqand be Kashan, Nameh haye Giath al-Din Jamshid Kashani be Pedarash [From Samarqand to Kashan, Giath al-Din Jamshid Kashani’s Letters to His Father] (Tehran: Elmi Farhangi Publications, 1996) [not seen].
• Bagheri, Mohammed, “A Newly Found Letter of al-Kāshī on Scientific Life in Samarkand”, Historia Mathematica, 24 (1997), 241-256 [ScienceDirect link].
• King, David A., “An Astrolabe for the Sultan Ulugh Beg”, in: D.A. King, In Synchrony with the Heavens: Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval Islamic Civilization (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004/05 [= Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies, vol. LV]), vol. II, Part XIVd [pp. 745-774].
• Giahi Yazdi, Hamid-Reza & Rezvani, Pouyan, “Chronology of the Events of the Samarqand “Observatory and School” Based on Some Old Persian Texts: A Revision”, Suhayl: International Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation, 14 (2015), 145-165 [Suhayl link].

Shorter Studies on Ulugh Beg and his Astronomical School

• Schuyler, Eugene, Turkistan: Notes of a Journey in Russian Turkistan, Khokand, Bukhara, and Kuldja (New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1876) [Internet Archive link / Internet Archive link], vol. I, pp. 233-267 – description of Samarkand and the probable location of Ulugh Beg’s observatory.
• Graff, Kasimir, “Samarkand: Reiseerinnerungen aus der alten Timuridenhauptstadt”, Himmel und Erde: Illustrierte naturwissenschaftliche Monatsschrift, 20 (1908), 337-353 & 392-406 [Internet Archive link].
• Glazenap, Sergej Pavlovič, “Raskopki observatorii Ulugbeka v samarkande”, IAK, 31 (1909), 33-35 [not seen].
• Osipov, M.P., “Pis’mo o raskopkah observatorii Ulugbeka”, Izvestija Russkogo Astronomičeskogo Obščestva, 15 (1909), 244-???.
• Zapiski Voenno-topografičeskogo otdela Glavnogo upravleniâ General’nogo Štaba, 64 (1910), nr. 1, ???-???.
• M., R., “Archéologie de Samarkand”, Revue du Monde Musulman, 14 (1911), 313-333 [Internet Archive link / Gallica link].
• Vyatkin, Vasiliy Lavrentievič, “Otčet o raskopkah observatorii Mirza Ulugbeka v 1908 i 1909 godakh [“An Account of the Excavations of the Observatory of Mirz Ulugh Beg in 1908 and 1909”]”, Izvestiya Russkogo Komiteta dlya Izucheniya Sredneĭ i Vostochnoĭ Azii v Istoricheskom, Arheologicheskom, Lingvisticheskom i Etnograficheskom Otnosheniyah, 2nd Ser., 11 (1912), 76-93 [or 99-109?] [check].
• Milovanov, V.N., “Astronomicheskie poznaniia samarkandskikh astronomov (po povudo raskopki observatorii Ulug-Beka)”, PTKLA, 18 (1913), nr. 1, 42-53 [not seen].
• Graff, Kasimir, “Die ersten Ausgrabungen der Ulugh-Bek-Sternwarte in Samarkand”, Sirius: Rundschau der gesamten Sternforschung für Freunde der Himmelskunde und Fachastronomen, 53 [= Neue Folge, 48] (1920), 169-173 [Internet Archive link].
• Masson, M.E., “Raṣad-khāna-i Ulugh Bīg”, Āryānā, 2 (1943), nr. 12, 28-39 & 3 (1944), 84-88 & 215-220 [not seen] – translation by M.Ṣ. Ṭarzī.
• Džalâlov, G.Ž, “Sekstant kak glavnyj instrument observatorii Ulugbeka [“The Sextant of Ulug-Bek’s Observatory”]”, Astronomičeskij Žurnal, 24 (1947), 249-253 [local pdf link].
• Vitkovič, V., “The Scientific Heritage of Ulugh Beg”, ‘Soviet Union’ Magazine, nr. 9 [31] (1952), 36-?? [check].
• Ščeglov, Vladimir Petrovič, “K voprosu o geografičeskih koordinatah i azimute sekstanta observatorii Ulugbeka v g. Samarkande [“Toward the Question of the Geographical Coordinates and the Azimuth of the Sextant at the Observatory of Ulugh Beg and of the City of Samarkand”]”, Astronomičeskij Žurnal, 30 (1953), 224-228 [local pdf link].
• Šiškin, Vasilij Afanas’evič, “Observatoriya Ulugbeka”, Trudy Instituta Istorii i Arheologii Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoj S.S.R., 5 (1953), 3-100 [check].
• Nil’sen, V.A., “Arhitekturnyj oblik observatorii Ulugbeka v Samarkande [Architectural Views of the Observatory of Ulugh Beg in Samarkand]”, Trudy Instituta Istorii i Arheologii Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoj S.S.R., 5 (1953), 101-128 [check].
• Mitra, P.N., “Ulugh Beg, the Astronomer Prince of Iran”, Indo-Iranica: The Quarterly Organ of the Iran Society, 8 (1955), 8-12 [check].
• Sayılı, Aydın, The Observatory in Islam and its Place in the General History of the Observatory (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, 1960 [= Publications of the Turkish Historical Society, Series VII, nr. 38]), pp. 260-289.
• Kary-Niâzov, Tašmuhamed Niâzovič, “Ulugbek i Savaj Džaj Singh [Ulugh Beg and Subah Jai Singh]”, in: A.T. Grigor’jan & A.P. Juškevič (eds.), Fiziko-matematičeskie nauki v stranah Vostoka: Sbornik statej i publikacij. Vypusk 1 (IV) (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “Nauka”, 1966), pp. 247-255 [local pdf link].
• Bruin, Frans, “The Astronomical Observatory of Ulugh Beg in Samarkand”, Biruni Newsletter, nr. 9 (1967) [not seen].
• Guliamov, Ia.G. & Buriakov, Iu.F., “K planirovke observatorii Ulugbeka po materialam raskopok 1967 goda”, ONU, 2 (1968), 45-48 [not seen].
• Ščeglov, Vladimir Petrovič, Jan Hevelius: The Star Atlas (Tashkent: “FAN” Press Uzbek SSR, 1968) – trilingual edition (Uzbek, Russian & English), reprinted in 1970 and 1978 [local pdf link of the 1978 edition].
• Bulatova, V.A., “Medrese Ulugbeka v Samarkande (Stratifikatsiia kul’turnykh nasloenii u iuzzhnogo fasada)”, ONU, 3 (1969), 45-48 [not seen].
• Pugachenkova, G.A., “Arkhitektura observatorii Ulugbeka”, Iskusstvo Zodchickh Uzbekistana, 4 (1969), 107-131 [check].
• Abduqodirov, Abdusalom, Ulug‘bekning Samarkanddagi obidalari (Tashkent: O’zbekiston Kompartiyasi Markaziy Komitetining, 1969) [local pdf link].
• Brandenburg Dietrich, Samarkand: Studien zur islamischen Baukunst in Uzbekistan (Zentralasien) (Berlin: Bruno Hessling Verlag, 1972), pp. 190-204.
• Lutsky, V., “Ulugh Beigh’s Ancient Star Atlas”, Astronomy and Space, 1 (1972), 342-344.
• Nevskaya, N.I., “[Ulugh Begh’s Work in the Papers of the Members of the St. Petersbourg Academy of Sciences (XVIIIth Century)]”, Doklady Akademiia Nauk UzSSR, 12 (1972), 5-7 [check] [ADS link].
• Usmanov, A.U., “[A Short Survey of the History of the Development of Astronomy in the Medieval East Before the Ulugh Begh Epoch]”, Trudy Samarkandskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni Ališera Navoi, Nov. Serija, nr. 229 (1972), 60-97 [check] [ADS link].
• Usmanov, A.U., “[The Role of Scientists of Ulugh Begh’s Samarkand Astronomical School in the Development of Astronomy]”, Trudy Samarkandskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta imeni Ališera Navoi, Nov. Serija, nr. 229 (1972), 101-118 [check] [ADS link].
• Ščeglov, Vladimir Petrovič, “[Astronomical Azimuths of Terrestrial Objects as Indicators of the Rotational Motions of the Continental Blocks]”, Astronomičeskij Žurnal, 54 (1977), 884-889 [ADS link] = Soviet Astronomy: A Translation of the Astronomical Journal of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 21 (1977) 499-502 [ADS link].
• Nazirova, N.N., “Russkii komitet dlia izucheniia Srednei i Vostochnoi Azii otkrytie observatorii Ulugbeka”, in: TDK aspirantov i molodykh nauchnykh sotrudnikov IVAN SSSR, 2 (1978), nr. 1, 147-150 [not seen].
• Piini, Ernest W., “A Giant Astronomical Instrument of Stone: The Ulugh-Beg Observatory”, Griffith Observer, 48 (1984), nr. 9, 3-19 [check / ADS link].
• Razvi, Abbas, “The Observatory at Samarqand (Marsad-e-Ulugh Beg, 15th C.)”, Central Asia: Research Journal of Area Study Centre, 17 (1985), 97-150 [check].
• Bulatov, M.S., “[The Predecessor of the Ulugh Beg Observatory]”, Arkhit. i str-vo Uzbekistana, nr. 11 (1986), 11-12 [ADS link].
• Bulatov, M.S., “[The Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarkand]”, Istoriko-Astronomičeskie Issledovaniya, 18 (1986), 199-216 [ADS link].
• Piini, Ernest W., “Ulugh Beg’s Forgotten Observatory”, Sky and Telescope, 71 (1986), 542-544 [ADS link].
• Hobden, Heather, “Ulughbek and his Observatory in Samarkand”, Astronomy Now, 2 (1988), nr. 8, 32-36 [ADS link].
• Krisciunas, Kevin, Astronomical Centers of the World (Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 27-35.
• Pugachenkova, G.A., ??? (1990) [Internet Archive link].
• Samsó, Julio, “Marṣad”, The Encyclopaedia of Islam: New Edition (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991), vol. VI, pp. 599-602 [Internet Archive link].
• Krisciunas, Kevin, “The Legacy of Ulugh Beg”, in: H.B. Paksoy (ed), Central Asian Monuments (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992), pp. 95-103 [check].
• Oudet, Jean-François, “Reconstitution de l’observatoire de Samarkand (XVè siècle) – Etat d’avancement des travaux”, in: C. Jaschek (ed.), European Meeting on Archeoastronomy & Ethnoastronomy, Strasbourg, 3-5 Novembre 1992 (Strasbourg: l’Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg, [1993]), pp. 199-216 [Strasbourg Observatory link].
• Saliba, George, “Al-Qushjī’s Reform of the Ptolemaic Model for Mercury”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 3 (1993), 161-203 [??? link].
• Lishevskij, V.P., “[Ulugh Begh: Emir and Star Counter, on the Occasion of the 600th Anniversary of his Birthday (1394 – 1449)]”, Zemlya Vselennaya, nr. 6 (1994), 43-46 [ADS link].
• Ehgamberdiev, Shuhrat, “The Astronomical School of Ulugh Beg”, Sky and Telescope, 90 (1995), nr. 5, 38-44 [check / ADS link].
• Beaupertuis-Bressand, Frédérique, “Le Prince savant annexe les étoiles”, in: V. Fourniau (ed.), Samarcande 1400-1500: La cité-oasis de Tamerlan: coeur d’un empire et d’une renaissance (Paris: Éditions Autrement, 1995 [= Mémoires, nr. 34]), pp. 123-149.
• Abdulhalimov, B., “Catib Chelebi About Ulugbeg and Scholars of his School”, in: UBC1996, pp. 17-24.
• Beaupertuis-Bressand, Frédérique, “Ouloug Beg: Prince des Etoiles”, Ulysse: Le magazine du voyage culturel, nr. 65 (1999), ??-?? [check].
• Kennedy, Edward Stewart, “The Heritage of Ulugh Beg”, in: E. İhsanoğlu & F. Günergun (eds.), Science in Islamic Civilisation. Proceedings of the International Symposia “Science Institutions in Islamic Civilisation” & “Science and Technology in the Turkish and Islamic World” (Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art & Culture IRCICA, 2000 [= Studies and Sources on the History of Science Series, nr. 9]), pp. 97-109.
• Yuldashbaev, T.S., “Mirza Ulugh Beg and Modern Astronomy in Uzbekistan”, in: E. İhsanoğlu & F. Günergun (eds.), Science in Islamic Civilisation. Proceedings of the International Symposia “Science Institutions in Islamic Civilisation” & “Science and Technology in the Turkish and Islamic World” (Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art & Culture IRCICA, 2000 [= Studies and Sources on the History of Science Series, nr. 9]), pp. 139-141.
• Du Mont, Bernhard, “Ulugh Beg: Astronom und Herrscher in Samarkand”, Sterne und Weltraum, 41 (2002), nr. 9/10, 38-46 [ADS link].
• Tursunov, O.S., “Astronomičeskie instrumenty v observatorii Ulugbeka [Astronomic Instruments at Ulugh Beg’s Observatory]”, Priroda, 2 (2002), nr. 2, 91-96 [link].
• Rosenfel’d, Boris A. & Hogendijk, Jan P., “A Mathematical Treatise Written in the Samarqand Observatory of Ulugh Beg”, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften, 15 (2002/2003), 25-65.
• Saliba, George, “Reform of Ptolemaic Astronomy at the Court of Ulugh Beg”, in: Ch. Burnett et al (eds.), Studies in the History of the Exact Sciences in Honour of David Pingree (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2004 [= Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science: Texts and Studies, nr. LIV]), pp. 810-824.
• Thiébaud, Jean-Marie, Personnages marquants d’Asie centrale, du Turkestan et de l’Ouzbékistan (Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan, 2004), pp. ???-???.
• Shamukaramova, Feruza Shakirovna, “History of Reconstruction of Mirzo Ulugbek’s Observatory”, SEPHIS e-magazine, 2 (2006), nr. 3, 26-28 [SEPHIS link].
• Hannah, Robert, “The Meridiana of Ulugh Beg in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople”, Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 22 (2007), 7-14 [Brill link] – refutes the claim that Ulugh Beg constructed a meridian line in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
• Juhel, Alain, “Prince of Samarqand Stars”, The Mathematical Intelligencer, 29 (2007), nr. 4, 44-50 [Springer link].
• Fazlıoğlu, İhsan, “The Samarqand Mathematical-Astronomical School: A Basis for Ottoman Philosophy and Science”, Journal for the History of Arabic Science, 14 (2008), 3-68.
• Gautier, Antoine, “L’observatoire du prince Ulugh Beg”, L’Astronomie: ???, 122 (2008), 28-29 [check / ADS link].
• Ehgamberdiev, Shuhrat, “Ulugh Beg: The Scholar on the Throne”, A World of Science, 7 (2009), nr. 1, 21-23 [not seen].