The prince who charted the stars — and was killed by his own son
Ulugh Beg (1394–1449), a grandson of the conqueror Timur, ruled Samarkand but gave his passion to astronomy, building one of the medieval world's greatest observatories. In 1437 he completed a star catalogue fixing the positions of more than a thousand stars with remarkable precision, and in 1449 he was deposed and put to death on the order of his own eldest son — just four years before the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
How we know
Ulugh Beg b. 22 Mar 1394, d. 27 Oct 1449 (beheaded on order of eldest son Abd al-Latif); Zij-i Sultani star catalogue completed 1437, lists 1,018 stars (992 newly observed); grandfather Timur d. 1405; Constantinople fell 1453 (1453−1449 = 4 yrs).
One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.