ALOCEN. Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn-al-Haitham, known in Latin as Alhazen (c. A.D. 965, fl. 996-1002), was born in Basra and died in Cairo, c. 1039. His work on optics, Kitab al-Manazir, or The Book of the Telescope, was translated into Latin and greatly influenced medieval science, especially the work of Roger Bacon. His greatest contributions were on the subjects of spherical and parabolic mirrors, refraction, and the study of the atmosphere. He was the earliest user of camera obscura, "the dark chamber," the principle on which cameras function. The Polish physicist Witelo translated the work on optics, and a combined edition, Alhazeni et Vitellonis Opticae (The Optics of Alhazen and Witelo), was printed in Basel in 1572.

The magic mirror, in which the future is reflected, reminds the people at Cambyuskan's court of Alocen, Vitulon, and Aristotle, who have written about mirrors, SqT 232. [Aristotile: Vitulon]

Alocen is the ME variant of Latin Alhazen, derived from the Arabic patronymic, ibn-al-Haitham. It appears medially, SqT 232.