Abraham bar Hiyya, together with Abraham ibn Ezra, occupies an important place in the history of Jewish science.

He is, indeed, one of the most important figures in the scientific movement which made the Jews of Provence, Spain, and Italy the intermediaries between Mohammedan science and the Christian world.

He aids this movement not only by original works, but also by translations and by acting as interpreter for another great translator, the celebrated Plato of Tivoli.

Bar Hiyya writes all his works in Hebrew, not in Judaeo-Arabic of the earlier Jewish scientific literature, which makes him a pioneer in the use of the Hebrew language for scientific purposes.

He also cooperates with Plato of Tivoli in the translation of scientific works from Arabic into Latin, particularly the translation of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos in 1138 at Barcelona.