Fascinating History Channel Documentary: Science & Islam – With Prof. Jim Al-Khalili (Watch Online)

[Turborama]

Physicist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Al-Khalili">Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science – there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.

For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili this is also a personal journey and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician http://www.google.com/search?q=Al-Khwarizmi&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8">Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to http://www.google.com/search?q=Ibn+Sina&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8">Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canon_of_Medicine">Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, he pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists.


Watch the full Documentary online here: http://www.streaming-madness.net/watch-online/documentary/science-and-islam-with-prof-jim-al-khalili/

ISLAM FACTS

Many ancient-Greek writings, including the work of Aristotle, were introduced to Europe during the late Middle Ages by Islamic scholars.

The Arab astronomer http://www.google.com/search?q=Al-Khwarizmi&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8">Al-Khwarizmi wrote several scientific books in the ninth century. Latin scholars later translated his work in the 13th century—introducing Europeans to the word "Algebra" and the place-value decimal system still in use today.

The modern use of the Scientific Method was developed in early Muslim philosophy.

Arab mathematician http://www.google.com/search?q=Ibn+Al-Haitham&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&ie=utf8&oe=utf8">Ibn Al-Haitham advanced the science of optics in the 10th century, by solving particular problems related to the refraction of light.

These familiar English words have their medieval origins in the language and scientific contributions of Islamic scholars: alkali, alchemy, alcohol, algorithm, almanac, zenith and zero.

The upper-class of Europe practiced the art of Courtly Love during the later Middle Ages, which was influenced by Arabic poetry.

From: http://www.history.com/topics/facts-about-the-religion-of-islam

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[pinboy3niner]

1. Pretty heretical stuff, there...

...considering the neocons' campaign to demonize all Muslims as barbarians and terrorists.

Of course, if you cherry-pick like they do, you could create a narrative that would convince anyone that all Americans are nothing but genocidal barbarians.

Thanks for the OP, Turborama. :thumbsup:

K&R

[Turborama]

4. Unfortunately, their long campaign seems to have taken root

Have you read Glenn Greenwald's article yet? If not I thoroughly recommend it: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9374125

Thank you for the kicks and recommendation, much appreciated.

Hope you're having a great weekend. :hi:

[pinboy3niner]

8. Great piece by Greenwald (and the Linkins piece at HuffPo as well)!

Thanks for the link.

I PM'd you earlier. My weekend has gone well, though my 'best-laid plans' did not go as expected.

I was going to go to the Obama rally at USC Friday, but morning news reports indicated the final bus on my meticulously-planned 3-hr. commuter train/subway/bus trip was cancelled. And today I wimped out on making a 100-mile round-trip to a rally with Jerry Brown, Barbara Boxer and other CA dems. The spirit is willing, but....

Looks like I've got to do more phone calls and kick in some more money to atone for my slacking.

I hope you and your wife are having a good weekend. You've had some good OP's--keep up the good work!

:hi:

[Turborama]

12. Which piece is that in HuffPo? I've missed that one.

Bummer about the rally blow out, hopefully you'll get another chance to go to one of his events near you in the not too distant future.

The wife worked all weekend on a wedding she'd been planning. Talking of "best laid plans, a monsoon type thunderstorm screwed up all the timing for the whole thing, but that's another story. It was a real shame she wasn't around but as she had the car it did give me lots of time to be here, lol.

Thanks a lot for the PM and your support, I'm going to send you an email later...

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

13. Greenwald quoted an excerpt from it

"The Huffington Post's Jason Linkins explained the real significance of NPR's actions, the real reason it had to be attacked: ...."

I don't worry much about missing the rallies. For some, it's a chance to shake hands with the candidates. Me, I don't care about shaking their hands or telling them my name--I just want to get them elected.

In '04 I volunteered for the last two months for Kerry as a 'Kerrytraveler' from CA out in Battleground Ohio. I worked a couple of the events he was at there, and one back in L.A. soon after the election when he stumped for Villaraigosa for Mayor. I had a great chance to go up to him, say a few words, and shake his hand. (I also could have dropped a bunch of names of people I'd worked with in the campaign who were close friends of his.) But I didn't even try to approach him.

A similar thing happened years ago when I was working an event in support of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in D.C. Maya Lin, the designer, walked over and began to engage me in conversation. We spoke for a bit, and then I disengaged. Obviously an over-reaction on my part, due to my revulsion to the way we glom onto celebrities in our society. What I regret is not telling her how brilliant her design was, and how much I was sickened by the undeserved abuse she suffered. I know that hurt her deeply, and I was remiss in not expressing my support for her when I had the chance.

Sounds like you weathered the thunderstorm OK, but I do get concerned for you when there's news of severe weather events in Indonesia. I don't remember where you are there, and Indonesia extends pretty far through several time zones, just like the U.S. I know I get long-distance calls from friends whenever there's a fire or an earthquake anywhere in CA, lol!

Always good to talk to you. More later, bro...

Love & Peace,
pinboy3niner

P.S. Be sure to give my best to your wife.

[ihavenobias]

2. # 5 n/t

[Turborama]

5. Thanks a lot, Tom

Hope you're having a great weekend. :hi:

[pinboy3niner]

3. .

[sabrina 1]

6. Thanks for posting this. It reminds me of my time spent

attempting to reason with Fox News viewers on a rightwing dominated board several years ago. One of their main lies was that Muslims are worthless and 'have contributed nothing' to civilization. I remember posting some information for them with some facts like these, which they chose to ignore.

The indoctrination is so complete it would require professional intervention to clear out the minds of those who have been exposed to it.

Or, a media that was not controlled by Corporations. Fox was one of the worst things that happened to this country as it played into all the remaining bigotry just at a time when progress was being made.

Then came 9/11 and all that bigotry was unleashed and aimed at Muslims. Before that they had been keeping their bigotry mostly among themselves, but the Iraq War, Bush et al gave them permission to bring it to the surface. Maybe in a way it was a good thing, because it was there, bubbling underneath the surface.

:kick: and rec'd. There needs to far more of these kind of facts published in this country. The ignorance is astounding at times.

[Turborama]

9. You're most welcome. I had very similar confrontations with that strand of ignorance myself ...

... several years ago. Particularly on AOL boards during the build up to the illegal invasion of Iraq. It was the first time I'd come across anonymous freepers on the internet and it was very distressing.

This is something I was predicting just before the election in 2008, I was suggesting to anyone who had friends or family that were brainwashed that they might need to consider packing them off to a retreat where they de-program ex-cult members:

"The indoctrination is so complete it would require professional intervention to clear out the minds of those who have been exposed to it."

Thank you for your comments and the K&R. Much appreciated, as always.

[Odin2005]

7. Very cool, I have 2 of Jim's books.

[Turborama]

10. Is this one of them?

I've been considering buying it - for myself and as a Christmas present for my history buff father.

Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science by Jim al-Khalili – review

The 'bubbling invention' of the Islamic world lit up the dark ages. By Tim Radford

Tim Radford
The Guardian, Saturday October 23

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/23/arabic-science-jim-alkhalili-review

[Odin2005]

11. No, I have his physics books.

[Kind of Blue]

14. I Love this. Thanks so much for posting.

KnR

[pinboy3niner]

16. Isn't it refreshing?

Especially when we see bigoted views expressed even by a few here.

Thankfully, we have some fellow members, like Turborama, who persist in lighting up the darkness...

[BlueCheese]

15. A few comments...

There's no doubt that modern mathematics and science benefited greatly from the the discoveries of Arabs and others from the Middle East while Europe was in the Dark Ages. I've heard that the decimal system actually originated in India--we call them Arabic numerals because they came to Europe through the Arabs. But that's a small point.

I guess my question here is to was this a result of Islamic success or an Arabic success? I'm not trying to read any political meaning into it--just curious as to how and whether religion played a role in these discoveries?

[Gaedel]

17. Islam and science

Islam was not (and is not) a unified religion. Like Christianity, it comes in a variety of flavors. During the "golden years" if Islam, it was very open to scientific investigation and advances in geographical knowledge.

For some reason (some say the destruction caused by Genghis Khan's armies and later Tamerlane), the more fundamentalist forms of Islam came to predominate and the great universities and centers of learning in Islam sank to venues for memorizing the Koran. Scientific advancement shifted from the middle east to western Europe.


I did read an interesting book which looked at the world in 1000 and again in 1350. The author identified five "civilizations" in 1000 (Western Catholic Europe, Eastern Orthodox Europe, Arabic Islam, Hindu Asia, and Chinese Asia. Looking at the world in 1000, the least likely places to become powerful were the two outliers (Western Europe and China), but by 1350, they were growing at the expense of the central three.

[BlueCheese]

18. Interesting, thanks. n/t

[Turborama]

19. The answer to that valid question is covered within the documentary. I've found it on YouTube too

It's broken into different parts and has a better quality picture. Here's part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-n2BoPE2GE

I just found out there were other episodes of that series which are available here, too: http://www.youtube.com/user/microman780#g/c/0C4F7D16124FC860

I just found out it was actually made for the BBC but I saw it on the History Channel recently. Here's some details about the rest of the series: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gnqck/episodes and http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/06_june/12/science.shtml