Discover the golden era of Islam
OVER the centuries, Muslim scholars and scientists had played a pivotal role
in the development of numerous scientific discoveries. To bring back these
golden years and to spur young Malaysians into emulating these scholars, the
Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry is presenting the Scientific
Excellence in Islamic Civilization exhibition, which will be held at the Kuala
Lumpur Convention Centre next month. In the 7th century, the Arabs were
already making inroads into various fields that were explored centuries earlier
by the Europeans, notably the Greeks. And by the middle of 9th century they
had progressed further and begun to show their creativity in fields such as
mathematics, astronomy, medicine, cartography, architecture and physics.
What they had learned from other cultures was perfected to the highest degree,
creating new fields of learning and spinning new disciplines. For example,
Jabir Ibn Haiyan, who died in AD803, is known as the
Father of Chemistry, as he liberated alchemy from superstition and turned it
into a science. Jabir, also known as Geber to the West, is credited with
the invention of many types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment and with
the discovery and description of many now-commonplace chemical substances and
processes. These include hydrochloric and nitric acid, distillation, and
crystallisation, which have all become the foundation of todays chemistry as
well as chemical engineering. He also recognised the importance of
systematic experimentation and wrote books on chemistry. Several technical
terms devised by Geber, such as alkali, are today found in various European
languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary. The Muslims also
had one of the greatest mathematicians of all time in Abu Abdullah Mohammad Ibn
Musa al-Khawarizmi. Born in AD770, Khawarizmi was a mathematician,
astronomer and geographer. He made fundamental
contributions to the basic concepts of mathematics, including explaining the
use of the number zero. The term algebra was derived from his famous book
Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah. He also developed the decimal system and gave
analytical solutions to quadratic equations as well as operations on fractions
and trigonometric tables. Khawarizmis numerous books were translated into
European languages and he contributed original work related to clocks, sundials
and astrolabes (an instrument to determine the altitude of objects). These
are only a sampling of the contributions by Muslim scholars to the development
of science. Their accomplishments will be showcased at the KL Convention
Centre on Jan 8-14 and then move on to the National Science Centre where it
will be displayed for two-and-a-half months. The exhibition will showcase up
to 150 artefacts and scientific discoveries by Muslims throughout the ages.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/23/nation/16390988&sec=nation
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