So wrote Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), who was born around 965 in Basra (now Iraq, but then part of Persia), lived most of his life in Egypt, and is credited with being an early developer of the scientific method. His road to truth took a wrong turn that almost cost him his life. After claiming that he could use mathematical principles to regulate the flooding of the Nile—and later realizing that t...
