Omar Khayyam

1048-1131

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) - a Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer. In his own time he was known above all as a scholar who solved cubic equations and reformed the calendar more precisely than the one we use today. To the wider world, though, he lives on through his rubaiyat - short, daring quatrains about the meaning of life, wine and death, full of doubt.