Mohammad ibn Shahrukh ibn Timur Ulugbek Guragan (1394-1449) is the great astronomer and mathematician, outstanding scientists of his epoch, a statesman, grandson of the famous ruler and warlord Amir Temur.

Under his reign Samarkand be¬came one of the world centers of science in the Middle Ages, around Ulugbek arose an entire scientific school, uniting prominent astrono¬mers and mathematicians such as AH Kushchi and Kazyzade Rumi, histo¬rian Khafizi Abru, the famous medi¬cal man Mavlono Nefis, the poets Sakkaki and Lutfi.

All his energy, wealth and influ¬ence, Ulugbek sent for the development of science, culture and education in his native country.

Well-known observato¬ry, the underground remains of a huge quadrant 40 m in radius, was opened in 1428. The Samarkand observatory became famous for the edition of the \"Ziji jadidi Kuragoni\" (\"Kuragoni star chart\"), containing a theoretical in¬troduction and charts describing 1018 stars. The astronomic guide soon was translated to Latin and become a text¬book in all European observatories. The accuracy of these charts was bet¬ter than everything achieved in Eu¬rope and East before. The catalog did not lose its value in our days.

Ulugbek also dealt with history, he wrote historical book named \"Tarixi arba ulus\" (\"The story of four tribes\"). His contribution to develop¬ment of the state was also very im¬pressive. Life and scientific activity of Ulugbek underlie the development of spirituality of people and certify that then, many centuries back, the country paid a lot of attention to the development of fundamental science.

An activity to carefully study of Mirzo Ulugbek\'s scientific heritage is in the focus of the consistently con¬tinued process. As it is well known, the vear of 1994 was announced Year of Mirzo Ulugbek in Uzbekistan, whose 600th Anniversary was cel¬ebrated internationally, in particu¬larly, in Paris, where the UNESCO headquarters is situated.

There is gravure by Johannes Hevelius in his Atlas of Constella¬tions published in Europe in 17th century, which shows a symbolic gathering of the greatest astro-nomes of the world, which lived in different periods of time and coun¬tries. Among them is a son of the Uzbek people - the great scholar Ulugbek.

Source: Newspaper «Uzbekistan travel news» - «Íîâîñòè òóðèçìà Óçáåêèñòàíà».