Thanks for the interesting and informative link, Kip. I'm adding it to my big file labelled "Outremer".
One of the "two young men" referred-to is the great Avicenna. Ian On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 12:30 AM, Kip Murray <[email protected]> wrote: > About "the arabs" you may enjoy > > Rediscovering Central Asia by S. Frederick Starr > http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=545818 > > Quoting from two paragraphs: > > In AD 998, two young men living nearly 200 miles apart, in present-day > Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, entered into a correspondence. With verbal > jousting > that would not sound out of place in a 21st-century laboratory ... > > Most today know these argumentative geniuses, if at all, as Arabs. This is > understandable, since both wrote in Arabic (as well as Persian). But just as a > Japanese writing in English is not an Englishman, a Central Asian writing in > Arabic is not an Arab. In fact, both men were part of a huge constellation of > ethnically Persian or Turkic geniuses in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, > geology, linguistics, political science, poetry, architecture, and practical > technology—all of whom were from what today we call Central Asia. Between 800 > and 1100 this pleiad of Central Asian scientists, artists, and thinkers made > their region the intellectual epicenter of the world. Their influence was felt > from East Asia and India to Europe and the Middle East. > > > DIETER ENSSLEN wrote: >> good company either way >> >> the chinese have discovered lots in the past >> >> so have the arabs, for example virtually all our stars are named by them, >> then there is algebra..... >> >> and both are now getting back into the science business >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
