Science Forums 2

[nutronjon]

May be we should expand our view of the world a little? The Muslims had preserved what ancient civilizations had achieved and expanded upon it. Because the east and west did have contact, I don't know if we can be sure what came from China and what did not?

Muslim horologists had constructed precise time-keeping devices, that were fully auotmatic and weight-driven. Designs and illustrations of epi-cyclic and segmented gears were provided. Ibn-e-Farnas of Spain was a skilled inventer in this regard.


Galileo's pendulum? Did Galileo invent the pendulum as he was standing under a swinging chendelier in a church? No, in fact it was Ibn Yunus Al-Misri who had invented the device in the 10th century and Muslims later on, used it in their clocks.


Paper was a Chinese invention. Muslims mediated this Chinese skill to Europe. With the advent of paper-making in Islam, dawned a new revolution worldwide. Muslim had learnt this art from Chinese prisoners of war in 751 A.D.. From Samarkand, the craftsmanship spread to Baghdad, Damascus, Tiberias, Tripoli and Fez. There were floating paper mills in Jativa near Valencia, Spain. The first factory of this sort was established in Europe in Fabriano (Italy) in 1261 A.D.. After its instatement, Europe had to wait for another century before Nuremberg (Germany) could boast of another paper manufacturing center. Moreover, Muslims were the first time, used cotton to make paper, whereas China had been using silk throughout. This enabled Europe to use cotton and advance themselves by leaps and bounds, because silk was very rarely found outside China and India.


Newton and Haitham Without undermining Newton’s unparalleled contributions to human knowledge, many of his ideas were not the first of their kind and they had their precedents in the Muslim world. Ibn-alHaitham showed how the eye works (although one of his own eyes was bulged out by the Egyptian ruler, Al-Hakim). He showed that sight is possible because of light rays being reflected from the object, rather than rays emanating from the eye, as Greek science would have believed. Haitham also worked on the Fermat’s principle of least distance of propagation of light. Moreover, he had anticipated inertia, about 600 years before Netwon. It is unjust to rule out his name in the history of civilisation. Haitham also investigated the theory of diffraction and explained how rainbows ere formed, although Newton, first explained the coloration of rainbows. It is an open question, if Newton studied haitham.s monumental "Kitab-al-Manazir". As early as the 11th century, Haitham, had proposed to Al-Hakim the construction of a dam on the River Nile. Today, the magnificent Aswan, stands not quite far from the site he had proposed.
Muslim Contribution to Human Civilisation