Indian astronomer and mathematician, b. c. 476 (Kusumapura, India), d. c. 550.
Aryabhata was the first Indian scientist whose works have survived the centuries and are known today. He wrote the Aryabhatija, a summary of Indian mathematics as it had developed up to his time. As was customary in Indian literature, his work is written in verse.
The Aryabhatija contain mainly chapters on astronomy and spherical trigonometry (geometry on a spherical surface). Aryabhata stated that day and night are produced because the Earth revolves around its axis, and that the Earth rotates around the Sun.
Aryabhata was one of the first scientists to use algebra, and his work contains rules about algebra, arithmetic and plane trigonometry. His explanation of the solution to indeterminate equations by continued fractions is essentially the same method as it is used today.
In his chapters on trigonometry Aryabhata approximated the irrational number p to four decimal places as p = 3.1416. He determined the solar year to 365.3586 days. He also introduced the sine function.
The first unmanned satellite built by India and launched in 1975 was named "Aryabhata" in his honour.