HOW COMES MUSLIMS ARE BACKWARD TODAY? Question:- Salamu Alaikum, brother Zakir.

My question is, when Quran speaks so much about Science , then how come the Muslims are so backward in the field of Science? Answer:Sister has posed the question, that when Quran speaks so much about Science - how come the Muslims are backward. Sister I would mainly blame the media. The media today is in the hands of the Westerners, the Europeans - It is in their hand, They have the Satellite, they have the Television, they have the CNN, they have the BBC- It is in their hand. The media is in their hands - and whatever you read in your school books, and books which we read in college - you will read there that from 8th to the 12th century it was the Dark Ages. Dark for whom? It was dark for the Europeans - not for the world. The Arabs and the Muslims, were very much advanced from 8th to the 12th century -they were very much advanced. The Europeans were backward because they saiddark for the world. It was not dark for the world - It was dark for the Europeans. With the limited instruments and technology what we had from 8th to 12th century- what discoveries the Muslim Scientists made - it is unbelievable. Today, because Science is Advanced we are making so many discoveries. SOME EXAMPLES OF MUSLIM SCIENTIST There with the amount of limited facilities we had, the amount of discoveries Muslim Scientists made - its unbelievable. For example I quoted in my talk, that IBN-E-NAFEES:he discovered the blood circulation, But in the medical books and the books we read in school who discovered blood circulation? William Harvey. Everyone knows William Harvey-Noone know about Ibn-e-Nafees. Ibn-e-Nafees spoke about blood circulation, 400 years before - the Europeans later on picked up the books of the Muslims and rehatched it and said we discovered it. See if you see the discoveries that Muslims have made. For example if you know AL-IDRUSI - IN 1154:he drew the first map of Mediterranean- the geography of the world - first. MATHEMATICS:Mathematics - Muslims were far advanced in mathematics. We introduced the Decimal point. Do you know, what we call the digits 1, 2, 3? The other ones are called as Roman numerical it is called as Arabic numerals. Why it is called Arabic numerals? Because the Arabs were the one who discovered it. The decimal point are the Arabic numerals.

PYTHOGORAS THEORAM ARAB THUSY The person who first proved the pythogras theorem he was Arab Thusy. We know about the Pythogoras theoram, but we dont know about Arab Thusy. He said that The square of the hypotenuse was equal to the sum of the opposite two sides of the triangle. ALBERUNI he was an authority in Trigonometry. All these people they were experts. IF YOU KNOW OF AL-KHINDI Al-Khindi, he was a Philosopher, a Mathematician and Astronomer. When great scientists like Galileo , Newton, etc., they said that all physical laws were absolute - he said that all physical laws, are relative. And today we know that, Theory of Relativity is proved by Albert Einstein. No one knows about Al-Khindi - He was the person , who basically gave the idea of theory of relativity. Later on he did more research and talked about Theory of Relativity. MOHAMMED , SHAKIR AND HASSAN? Who knows about the three brothers, Who knows about them? They toured the surface area of the earth from a angle at the Red Sea when people thought the world was flat.. IBN-E-HAYAN, Chemistry - the Muslims were far advanced in Chemistry. Jabir Ibn-e-Hayyan they have latinized the word Ghebar- So when we read in our tent books Ghebar, we think it is an European. It is a Muslim. Jabir-Ibn - E-Hayan you know Ghebar - you do not know we do not know who is Jabir. He is the person who distilled Alcohol. Alcohol comes from the Arabic word Algul- meaning Ghost, Evil Spirit. Alcohol is an Arabic Word. He wrote 2 thousand different pages only on Chemistry. MOHAMMED ZAKARIYA RAZI he was famous in Medicine - He was authority on the field of Small Pox and Measles. He was the first person who used Mercury ointment. He wrote books on childrens disease. There are several Muslim Scientists. ALI-IBN-E-ABBAS he wrote twenty volumes on Medicine. ALI-IBN-E-SINA known as Albesina Albesina, it doesnt not sound Muslim. Ali-Ibn-E-Sina yes Muslim - Albesina not Muslim. Who got the title of Aristole of the East? He wrote

the book Kanoon, which was referred as a text book of medicine till as late as seventeenth century. WHO KNOWS IBN-E-ZUHOOR ? He was the person after Alexander who did research on Paracytology. He described the Itch Mite the Parecaditis. He described the Otydismedia, Intrycosetomy. AL-ZAHARWI Several medical doctors Al-Zaharwi Al-Zaharwi was the famous dentist, as well as surgeon as well as Optitician. He invented several instruments of Surgery, Gynecology as well as Dentistry. We all of us know the other thing but the media is in the hands of the Westerners. The Muslims were far advanced. THE REASON WHY MUSLIM ARE BEHIND But I do agree with you- today today the Muslims are getting backward in Science- You know why? The Europeans are being advanced - You know why? The Muslims are recoming backward, because they are going away from the Holy Quran - they are going away from their Religion. And do you know why the Europeans are getting advanced? They too are going away from their Religion. The Europeans are also getting advanced, because even they are going away from their religion. The Muslims they are going backward because they are going away from their religion. I would request the Muslims brothers and sisters out here, as well as Non-Muslims -there are people reading the Quran Why dont we read the Quran with understanding? Why dont we ponder over the verses? We have only kept the Quran for kissing, and keeping on top. That is all the Quran was not meant for it to be kissed, and kept on top - It should be implemented in your daily life. If you implement the Quran in your daily life, read it with understanding, Inshallah again we will be on top of the world. Hope that answers the question.

References: 1. MUSLIM HERITAGE CONSULTING : PROJECT : MuslimHeritage.com | 1001inventions.com | 2007 Muslim Heritage Consulting LLC 2. 1001 Inventions: In the World, In the World, Cartoons, Science and a Shared EuroIslamic History, February 20, 2006, By Professor Salim Al-Hassani 3. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/how-islamic-inventors-changed-theworld-469452.html 4. Alcohol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 5. Al-Kindi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 6. Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 7. Arab and Persian astrology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 8. Arabic numerals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 9. Bernard Palissy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 10. Biographies of Famous Muslims of all time 11. Copyright 2003 Famousmuslims.com All rights reserved 12. Decimal separator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 13. Golden age of Arab and Islamic Culture 14. by Gaston Wiet, "Baghdad: 15. Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate" http://www.khamush.com/sufism/golden.htm 16. Islamic Golden Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 17. Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 18. Avicenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 19. Ibn al-Nafis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 20. Inventions in the Islamic world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 21. Inventions of the Islamic Golden Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 22. Investions by Muslim, SCIENTIFIC INVENTIONS BY MUSLIMS, By Engr. Iqbal A. Khan 23. Islamic Golden Age - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 24. Muslim views on astrology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 25. Astronomy in medieval Islam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 26. Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 27. List of Arab scientists and scholars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 28. List of astrologers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 29. List of Muslim historians - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 30. List of Islamic jurists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 31. List of Muslim philosophers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 32. List of Muslim astronomers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 33. List of Muslim empires - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 34. Mathematics in medieval Islam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 35. List of Muslim scientists - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 36. List of Sufis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 37. Muslim Scientists and Scholars 38. http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/

39. Muslim Agricultural Revolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 40. Muslim conquests - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 41. Muslim history - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 42. MuslimHeritage.com - Discover 1000 Years of Missing History 43. MuslimHeritage.com | 1001inventions.com 44. Copyright 2003 - 2008 FSTC Limited. 45. The Story of Islam's Gift of Paper to the West 46. http://web.utk.edu/~persian/paper.htm 47. Pendulum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 48. Petrography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 49. Religion and the Scientist 50. Islam - The Modern Religion 51. Roman numerals - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 52. Telescope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 53. Theory of relativity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 54. Timeline of Middle Eastern history - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 55. Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Museum explores 'hidden history' of Muslim science

By Nick Higham and Margaret Ryan BBC News

An exhibition that has just opened at the Science Museum is celebrating 1,000 years of science from the Muslim world.

A DV ERT IS EMENT

A look around the Science Museum exhibition, '1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World'.

From about 700 to 1700, many of history's finest scientists and technologists were to be found in the Muslim world. In Christian Europe the light of scientific inquiry had largely been extinguished with the collapse of the Roman empire. But it survived, and indeed blazed brightly, elsewhere. From Moorish Spain across North Africa to Damascus, Baghdad, Persia and all the way to India, scientists in the Muslim world were at the forefront of developments in medicine, astronomy, engineering, hydraulics, mathematics, chemistry, map-making and exploration. A new touring exhibition, hosted by the Science Museum in London, celebrates their achievements. Salim Al-Hassani, a former professor of engineering at Umist (University Dr Susan Mossman, Science of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) is a moving force behind the exhibition, 1001 Inventions. He calls it "edutainment": a series of displays devoted to different aspects of science meant to be both educational and entertaining.
Museum There is a whole area of in translation

science that is literally just lost

"We hope to inspire the younger generation to take up a career in science and technology and to be interested in improving the quality of societies," he says. Mix of cultures Visitors to the exhibition will be greeted by a 20 ft high replica of a spectacular clock designed in 1206 by the inventor Al-Jazari. It incorporates elements from many cultures, representing the different cultural and scientific traditions which combined and flowed through the Muslim world. The clock's base is an elephant, representing India; inside the elephant the water-driven works of the clock derive from ancient Greece. A Chinese dragon swings down from the top of the clock to mark the hours. At the top is a phoenix, representing ancient Egypt. Sitting astride the elephant and inside the framework of the clock are automata, or puppets, wearing Arab turbans.
Young people took the chance to explore the interactive exhibits

Elsewhere in the exhibition are displays devoted to water power, the spread of education (one of the world's first universities was founded by a Muslim woman, Fatima al-Fihri), Muslim architecture and its influence on the modern world and Muslim explorers and geographers. There is a display of 10th Century surgeons' instruments, a lifesize model of a man called Abbas ibn Firnas, allegedly the first person to have flown with wings, and a model of the vast 100 yard-long junk commanded by the Muslim Chinese navigator, Zheng He. Outside the main exhibition is a small display of exhibits drawn from the Science Museum's own collection. They include a 10th Century alembic for distilling liquids, an astrolable for determining geographical position (and the direction of Mecca - important for Muslims uncertain which way to face when praying). Also on display is an algebra textbook published in England in 1702, whose preface traces the development of algebra from its beginnings in India, through Persia, the Arab world and to Europe. Dr Susan Mossman, project director at the museum, says: "There is a whole area of science that is literally just lost in translation. "Arabic and Muslim culture particularly is a little-known story in Britain. This is a real opportunity to show that hidden story." She says the hands-on exhibition suits the museum's style, which she describes as "heavy-duty scholarship produced in a user-friendly way and underpinned by academic research". She adds: "We are opening people's eyes to a new area of knowledge - a cultural richness of science and technology that has perhaps been neglected in this country." Intellectual climate

There is one big question the exhibition does not address: why, after so many centuries, did the Muslim

world's scientific leadership falter? From the 16th Century onwards it was in Europe that modern science developed, and where scientific breakthroughs increasingly occurred. Prof Al-Hassani has his own theory, though there are others. Science flourished in the Muslim world for so long, he believes, because it was seen as expanding knowledge in the interests of society as a whole. But in the later Middle Ages, the Muslim world came under attack from Europeans (in the Crusades) and the Mongols (who sacked Baghdad in 1258) and the Ottoman Turks overran the remnants of the Byzantine empire, setting up a formidably centralised state. The need for defence against external enemies combined with a strong centralised government which put less value on individuals' scientific endeavour resulted in an intellectual climate in which science simply failed to flourish, he says. The free exhibition runs from 21 January to 25 April with a break between 25 February and 12 March.
Visitors are able to get close up to the replica of the 13th century clock

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8472111.stm

http://www.1001inventions.com/media/press

Muslim inventions that shaped the modern world

By Olivia Sterns for CNN
January 29, 2010 -- Updated 1253 GMT (2053 HKT)

In 9th century Spain, Muslim inventor Abbas ibn Firnas designed a flying machine -- hundreds of years before da Vinci drew plans of his own. STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Exhibition celebrates 1,000 years of "forgotten" Muslim heritage From coffee to cranks, items we couldn't live without today are Muslim inventions Modern hospitals and universities both began in 9th century North Africa

London, England (CNN) -- Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind. But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins. Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today. The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects -- the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales -- are the focus of "1001 Inventions," a book celebrating "the forgotten" history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage. "There's a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks," professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN. "1001 Inventions" is now an exhibition at London's Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures -- like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China -- to present day civilization.
Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt --professor Salim al-Hassani RELATED TOPICS

Middle East World History Science and Technology

Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions: 1. Surgery

Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds -- beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps. 2. Coffee Now the Western world's drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader. 3. Flying machine "Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly," said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci's hundreds of years later, said Hassani. 4. University In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today. 5. Algebra The word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician's famous 9th century treatise "Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala" which translates roughly as "The Book of Reasoning and Balancing." Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power. 6. Optics "Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world," says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy's theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain. 7. Music Muslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet. 8. Toothbrush

According to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste. 9. The crank Many of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine. 10. Hospitals "Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt," explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it -- a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world. For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com. For more information about the exhibition at London's Science Museum go to: science museum.org.uk

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/01/29/muslim.inventions/

The greatest scientific advances from the Muslim world

From the elephant clock to the camera obscura, here are six amazing inventions from between the 9th and 15th centuries

(123) Jim Al-Khalili The Guardian, Monday 1 February 2010 Article history

Ibn Firnas' flying contraption. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images There is no such thing as Islamic science for science is the most universal of human activities. But the means to facilitating scientific advances have always been dictated by culture, political will and economic wealth. What is only now becoming clear (to many in the west) is that during the dark ages of medieval Europe, incredible scientific advances were made in the Muslim world. Geniuses in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus and Cordoba took on the scholarly works of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, India and China, developing what we would call "modern" science. New disciplines emerged algebra, trigonometry and chemistry as well as major advances in medicine, astronomy, engineering and agriculture. Arabic texts replaced Greek as the fonts of wisdom, helping to shape the scientific revolution of the Renaissance. What the medieval scientists of the Muslim world articulated so brilliantly is that science is universal, the common language of the human

race. The 1001 Inventions exhibition at London's Science Museum tells some of the stories of this forgotten age. Here are my top six exhibits . . . 1 The elephant clock (below) This centrepiece of the exhibition is a three-metre high replica of an early 13th-century water clock and one of the engineering marvels of the medieval world. It was built by alJazari, and gives physical form to the concept of multiculturalism. It features an Indian elephant, Chinese dragons, a Greek water mechanism, an Egyptian phoenix, and wooden robots in traditional Arabian attire. The timing mechanism is based on a water-filled bucket hidden inside the elephant. 2 The camera obscura The greatest scientist of the medieval world was a 10th century Arab by the name of Ibn alHaytham. Among his many contributions to optics was the first correct explanation of how vision works. He used the Chinese invention of the camera obscura (or pinhole camera) to show how light travels in straight lines from the object to form an inverted image on the retina. 3 Al-Idrisi's world map This three-metre reproduction of the famous 12th-century map by the Andalusian cartographer, Al-Idrisi (1100-1166), was produced in Sicily and is regarded as the most elaborate and complete description of the world made in medieval times. It was used extensively by travellers for several centuries and contained detailed descriptions of the Christian north as well as the Islamic world, Africa and the Far East. 4 The Banu Musa brothers' "ingenious devices" These three brothers were celebrated mathematicians and engineers in ninth-century Baghdad. Their Book of Ingenious Devices, published in 850, was a large illustrated work on mechanical devices that included automata, puzzles and magic tricks as well as what we would today refer to as "executive toys". 5 Al-Zahrawi's surgical instruments This array of weird and wonderful devices shows the sort of instruments being used by the 10th-century surgeon al-Zahrawi, who practised in Cordoba. His work was hugely influential in Europe and many of his instruments are still in use today. Among his bestknown inventions were the syringe, the forceps, the surgical hook and needle, the bone saw and the lithotomy scalpel. 6 Ibn Firnas' flying contraption (above)

Abbas Ibn Firnas was a legendary ninth-century inventor and the Da Vinci of the Islamic world. He is honoured on Arabic postage stamps and has a crater on the moon named after him. He made his famous attempt at controlled flight when, aged 65, he built a rudimentary hang glider and launched himself from the side of a mountain. Some accounts claim he remained airborne for several minutes before landing badly and hurting his back. Jim Al-Khalili is an author and broadcaster. He is professor of physics and of the public engagement in science at the University of Surrey. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/feb/01/islamic-science

Elephant clock trumpets golden age of ancient Islamic science

Hannah Devlin

The Elephant Clock, 6m (20ft) tall and flanked by Chinese dragons and an Egyptian phoenix, looks more like a mystical creature from One Thousand and One Nights than a piece of cutting-edge mechanical gadgetry. But in its day 800 years ago the instrument was unprecedented in its control of flowing water, its use of robotics and its reliability at marking out the passing of time in precise half-hourly intervals. A replica of the weight-powered water clock went on show yesterday at Londons Science Museum as part of an exhibition aimed at bringing Islamic scientists, such as Al-Jazari the clocks Mesopotamian inventor, to greater public recognition. Speaking at the opening of 1001 Inventions, Chris Rapley, the director of the Science Museum, said that the Islamic Golden Age had led to huge advances in engineering, physics and the foundations of modern mathematics, which continue to make an impact today.
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The thousand-year period from the 7th century onwards was a time of exceptional scientific and technological advancement in China, India, Persia, Africa and the Arab world, he said. Professor Rapley said that science had a significant role to play in developing common goals between the Islamic and Western countries in coming years, arguing that the most original scientific ideas emerge from multi-cultural collaboration. Theres a lot of focus on the importance of interdisciplinary research, we should be talking more about multi-cultural research. People with different thought processes, different mental models, different ways of seeing things can spark off really new ideas, he said. The 13th-century clock is described in the exhibition as a physical embodiment of cross-cultural fertilisation. Its timing mechanism based on an internal water weighting and pulley system, was inspired by individual inventions from across the world. Inside the elephant is a large bucket of water in which a deep bowl floated. The bowl has a small hole in the centre and takes half an hour to fill and sink. This sets off a network of seesaws and levers, leading to a cymbal being struck and the bowl being hoisted back out of the water.

Acknowledging his various sources of inspiration, Al-Jazaris clock depicts an Indian Elephant, Chinese Dragons, a Greek water bowl, an Egyptian Phoenix and wooden robots in traditional Arabian attire. It embodies cultural and scientific convergence of civilisations and is an appropriate centre-piece for an exhibition about the roots of science and technology, said Professor Salim Al-Hassani, chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, which created the exhibition. Muslim scientists have applauded the exhibition saying that a broader recognition of the role of their religion in science would lead to greater respect for Islamic communities. Mohamed El-Gomati, a physicist at the University of York, called for the history of Islamic science to be made part of the National Curriculum. If they learnt that a lot of the technologies we use today came from other cultures I think there would be more respect between children sitting next to each other in the classroom, he said. He said that he had no difficulty reconciling his faith with his profession as a scientist. My faith is my moral compass. Everything that I do in my labs is for the good of the community, the aim of my work in nanotechnology is to make peoples lives easier, he said. The exhibition also highlights the role women played in Islamic science, featuring an exhibit about Merriam Al-ljliya, an astrolabe maker and chief engineer for the Sultan. Other exhibits featured in this interactive exhibition include a model of an energy efficient and environmentally-friendly Baghdad house, a 3 metre large reproduction Al-Idrisis 12th-century world map, a model of Zheng Hes Chinese junk ship, originally a 15th century wooden super structure over 100 metres long and a model of a 9th-century dark room, later called Camera Obscura, which Ibn al-Haytham used to revolutionise our understanding of optics. The exhibition was funded by the Abdul Latif Jameel Foundation, a charity set up in Britain by the Saudi Arabian company Abdul Latif Jameel Ltd.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6997850.ece

Elephant Clock is centrepiece of Science Museum's Islamic exhibition

A replica of a 13th century 'elephant clock' by the Muslim inventor Al-Jazari, which relies on a Greek water mechanism to mark time has gone on display at the Science Museum.
By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent Published: 7:30AM GMT 22 Jan 2010 Comment

A replica of a 13th century elephant clock by Muslim inventor Al-Jazari Photo: REX FEATURES The 20-foot high (6m) clock is as part of an exhibition of science from the Islamic world. The clock also features Chinese dragons, an Egyptian phoenix and wooden robots dressed in Arabian clothing. Al-Jazari was an outstanding mechanical engineer from what is now Iraq, who wrote a book detailing how to build dozens of machines including suction pumps, crank shafts and water-raising devices.

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Professor Salim Al-Hassani, chairman of 1,001 Inventions, the organisation which is helping put on the exhibition of the same name, said of the clock: "It gives physical form to the concept of multiculturalism. It embodies cultural and scientific convergence of civilisations and is an appropriate centrepiece for an exhibition about the roots of science and technology." The exhibition charts the development of science across the Islamic world from the 7th century until the 17th. Prof. Chris Rapley, Director of the Science Museum, said those 1,000 years were "a time of exceptional scientific and technological advancement in China, India, Persia, Africa and the Arab world" which "gave us huge advances in engineering, the development of robotics and the foundations of modern mathematics, chemistry and physics." Also in the exhibition is a model of a ninth century flying machine effectively a woodenribbed hang glider and a scaled down model of a 100 yard long Chinese junk built by a 15th century Muslim admiral called Zheng He. More everyday objects with roots in the Islamic world include cofee, toothbrushes and soap, according to curators. 1,001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World runs until April 25, although it is closed from February 25 to March 12 inclusive. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/7045228/Elephant-Clock-is-centrepieceof-Science-Museums-Islamic-exhibition.html

Swedish scientists help people 'feel like Barbie'

Published: 27 May 11 12:20 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation Online: http://www.thelocal.se/34028/20110527/ Share12 Scientists working at Stockholm's Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm have shown its possible to fool people into thiking they're a Barbie-doll or a 4-metre-tall giant.

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Both illusions were cool, but if I have to choose which one I preferred, I would have to say the Barbie, Bjrn van der Hoort, neurologist at Karolinska Institutet, told The Local. In the experiment, 198 people were shown images of a doll a Barbie-sized one and a giant one having their legs stroked. At the same time the subjects legs were stroked causing the illusion that what they saw was what they felt. After that the subjects were asked to estimates the size of differently sized blocks and then walk over these with their eyes shut. The result showed that for the subjects touched as a Barbie-doll, the blocks were estimated as very large. Where the 4metre doll had been used the blocks were perceived as tiny. The distances between the blocks were over- and under-estimated in a similar manner. The experiment indicates that how we perceive size and distance is universal and almost all test subjects had the same experience. It is a really strong illusion, even when you know that you are being fooled you still believe it," said van der Hoort. The conclusion is that we all use our bodies as reference points to which we compare everything around us, a behaviour that most likely stems from evolution according to van der Hoort. There was a time when we didnt care about measuring distances in metres but instead cared about how many steps it would take for us to reach something or how far apart we had to hold our hands to grasp something. The body was compared to the world we had to interact with," van der Hoort said. This also brings light to the quite common phenomenon when a place often frequented as a

child seems much smaller then remembered when you return as an adult. We think this is why, that when you were a child you compared the dimensions of the place to your small body and now you have a big body which changes your perception of the dimensions, he said. Although the research is still in its fundamental stages, it opens up for the possibility of developing fields like robotics, according to van der Hoort. Today when we operate a robot, for example to repair an oil-rig deep under the sea or perhaps cleaning a power plant, we push buttons and pull levers, but our research can change that, he said. In the future it may be possible for the robots operator to really feel he is the robot, on site, doing the work. Another future application could be a surgeon "becoming a tiny robot and walking into someones ear performing surgery", although such developments are at east 10-15 years away, according to van der Hoort. But when it is developed it will make science more intuitive and more efficient, we think," he told The Local. The findings have been published in online scientific journal PLoS ONE. Rebecca Martin (news@thelocal.se) http://www.thelocal.se/34028/20110527/