Pouyan Shahidi Marnani is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University under the supervision of Prof. F. Jamil Ragep. His area of interest focuses on the precision of instruments and methods used for astronomical observation in Islamic lands. As an undergraduate he studied Geodesy & Geomatics (Surveying) Engineering at the University of Isfahan. He then attended the University of Tehran, where he studied “History of Astronomy in the Islamic Era” and received his Master’s degree in 2011. His thesis examined a type of astrolabe named Musarṭan (due to its “crab-shaped” projection) and he prepared a critical edition using the Arabic text of Abū Saʿīd al-Sijzī and a Persian fifteenth century text. He has also published on the astrolabe collection of the Malek National Museum in Tehran, Iran.

Student, McGill University