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Science in the Arab World - From the Middle Ages and Onwards, Some of the Founders in Various Science Disciplines are From This Region
Greek philosophy was able to find some short-lived support by the newly created Islamic Caliphate (Islamic Empire) in the Middle East. With the development of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Islamic scholarship lasted until the 15th century. The Middle Ages is known as the Islamic Golden Age in the Middle East. These were the times when the Islamic civilization and Islamic scholarship flourished. The use of a single language, Arabic, allowed communication without need of a translator was the main factor for this. Translations of Greek texts from Egypt and the Byzantine Empire, and Sanskrit texts from India, provided Islamic scholars a knowledge base to build upon. In addition, there was the Hajj. This annual pilgrimage to Mekka made it possible for scholar collaboration by bringing together people and new ideas from all over the Islamic world.
In earlier Islamic versions of the scientific method, ethics played an important role. Islamic scholars used previous work in medicine, astronomy and mathematics as bedrock to develop new fields like alchemy. In mathematics, the Persian mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi gave his name to the concept of the algorithm, while the term algebra is derived from al-jabr, the beginning of the title of one of his publications. What is now known as Arabic numerals originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of decimal point notation. Sabian mathematician Al-Battani (850-929) contributed to astronomy and mathematics, while Persian scholar Al-Razi contributed to chemistry.
Use of these works can be seen in Damascus steel (wootz steel). Arab alchemy was an inspiration to Roger Bacon, and later to Isaac Newton. Al-Batani improved the measurements of Hipparchus, which is preserved in the translation of the Greek Hè Megalè Syntaxis (the great treatise) translated as Almagest. Around year 900, Al-Batani improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the earth's axis, thus continuing a millennium's legacy of measurements in his own land Babylonia and Chaldea, the area now known as Iraq. The corrections made to the geocentric model by Al-Battani, Averroes, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir were later incorporated into the Copernican heliocentric model. Heliocentric theories were also discussed by several other Muslim astronomers such as Abu-Rayhan Biruni, Abu Said Sinjari, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and 'Umar al-Katibi al-Qazwini.
Muslim scientists put more emphasis on experiments than the Greeks did. This led us up to the modern scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from around year 1000, which can be seen in his Book of Optics. The most important development of the scientific method developed by muslim scientists, was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation. bn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of light. Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first scientist” for his development of the modern scientific method.
Muslim chemists and alchemists played an important role in the foundation of modern chemistry. Scholars such as Will Durant and Alexander von Humboldt regard Muslim chemists to be the founders of chemistry. In particular, Geber is regarded as the "father of chemistry". The works of Arab chemists influenced Roger Bacon (who introduced the empirical method to Europe, strongly influenced by his reading of Arabic writers), and later Isaac Newton.
Many other advances were made by Muslim scientists in biology (botany, evolution, and zoology), mathematics (algebra, arithmetic, calculus, geometry, mathematical induction, number theory, and trigonometry), alchemy and chemistry, the earth sciences (anthropology, cartography, geodesy, geography, and geology), physics (optics, mechanics, and motion), psychology (experimental psychology, psychiatry, psychophysics, and psychotherapy), and the social sciences (demography, History, historiography, and sociology).
Here is a summary list of some of the most famous scientists from the Islamic world include Geber (polymath, father of chemistry), al-Farabi (polymath), Abu al-Qasim (father of modern surgery), Ibn al-Haytham (universal genius, father of optics, founder of psychophysics and experimental psychology, pioneer of scientific method, "first scientist"), Ab? Rayh?n al-B?r?n? (universal genius, father of Indology and geodesy, "first anthropologist"), Avicenna (universal genius, father of momentum and modern medicine), Nas?r al-D?n al-T?s? (polymath), and Ibn Khaldun (father of demography, cultural history, historiography, the philosophy of history, sociology, and the social sciences), among many others.
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Stig-Arne Kristoffersen
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