He was born at Nishapur, and devoted much of his time to the study of astronomy, of which science he was a learned professor; but it is asserted by his ill-wishers, that instead of his studies leading him to the acknowledgment of the power of the Supreme Being,they prompt ed himto disbelief. The resultof his re?ections on this important subject is given in a poem of his,much celebrated,underthe title of Rubaiya't of Omar Khayyam.