This book tells the life story of the Arab scientist Abu al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, who was born in Basra and lived most of his life in Cairo. Ibn al-Haytham was the first to say that light has speed and the first to lay down principles for the invention of the camera and photography. His ideas anticipated the pioneers of the modern European Renaissance. He was also a polymath with works in psychology, philosophy, and religious sciences. The “Scientists of Islamic Civilization” series presents the biographies of outstanding Arab and Muslim scholars and their contributions to human civilization.