Omar KhayyamO‧mar Khay‧yam /ˌəʊmɑː kaɪˈæm $ -ɑːr kaɪˈjɑːm/(?1048-?1123) a Persian mathematician and poet. He is known in the west for his romantic poem, the Rubaiyat, produced in a popular English translation by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859, which is mainly about love, nature, and pleasure.