The great poet and outstanding scholar Omar Khayyam was born in the city of Nishapur in 1048. He wrote numerous works on philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics, and in the field of mathematics, he was several centuries ahead of his contemporaries. Today, Khayyam's scientific works are known primarily only to specialists in the history of science. Omar Khayyam's worldwide fame rests on his quatrains, or rubaiyats, in which the lyrical hero attempts to understand the universe and comprehend the nature of man and God.