In 1551, Taqi al-Din [an Ottoman polymath active in Cairo and Istanbul] described an early example of an impulse steam turbine and also noted practical applications for a steam turbine as a prime mover for rotating a spit, predating Giovanni Branca's later impulse steam turbine from 1629. Taqi al-Din described such a device in his book, Al-Turuq al-saniyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines), completed in 1551 AD (959 AH).[32]