The Italian Leonardo da Vinci is often described as one of the greatest thinkers, engineers and inventors of all time, but 300 years before he was born came a man easily his equal, the Muslim scholar, polymath, inventor, engineer and mathematician, Ismail al-Jazari.
Al-Jazari was born in Upper Mesopotamia, possible near the borders of modern-day Turkey, Syria and Iraq, in 1136 CE/530 AH, and is presumed to have been either Arab, Persian or Kurdish in his ethnicity.