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Science—Mankind’s Ongoing Search for TruthAwake!—1993 | May 8
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Scientific Progress
By the ninth century, Arab scientists were fast becoming the leaders in matters of science. Particularly during the 10th and 11th centuries—while Christendom marked time—they enjoyed a golden age of accomplishment. They made valuable contributions to medicine, chemistry, botany, physics, astronomy, and above all, mathematics. (See box, page 20.) Maan Z. Madina, associate professor of Arabic at Columbia University, says that “modern trigonometry as well as algebra and geometry are in considerable measure Arab creations.”
Much of this scientific knowledge was original. But some of it was based on the broad foundation of Greek philosophy and was brought about, strangely enough, by religious involvement.
Comparatively early in the Common Era, Christendom spread into Persia and afterward into Arabia and India. During the fifth century, Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, became embroiled in a controversy that led to a schism within the Eastern church. This led to the forming of a breakaway group, the Nestorians.
In the seventh century, when the new religion of Islam burst onto the world scene and began its campaign of expansion, the Nestorians were quick to pass on their knowledge to their Arab conquerors. According to The Encyclopedia of Religion, “the Nestorians were the first to promote Greek science and philosophy by translating Greek texts into Syriac and then into Arabic.” They were also “the first to introduce Greek medicine into Baghdad.” Arab scientists began building upon the things they learned from the Nestorians. Arabic replaced Syriac as the language of science in the Arab empire and proved to be a language that lent itself well to scientific writing.
But the Arabs gave as well as took. When the Moors moved into Europe through Spain—to stay for over 700 years—they brought along an enlightened Muslim culture. And during the eight so-called Christian Crusades, between 1096 and 1272, Western crusaders were impressed by the advanced Islamic civilization with which they came in contact. They returned, as one author put it, with “a host of new impressions.”
Arabic Mathematical Simplification
One significant contribution the Arabs made to Europe was the introduction of Arabic numerals to replace the Roman use of letters. Actually, “Arabic numerals” is a misnomer. A more accurate term is probably “Hindu-Arabic numerals.” True, the ninth-century Arab mathematician and astronomer al-Khwārizmī wrote about this system, but he had derived it from the Hindu mathematicians of India, who had worked it out over a thousand years earlier, in the third century B.C.E.
The system was little known in Europe before the distinguished mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (also known as Leonardo of Pisa) introduced it in 1202 in Liber abaci (Book of the Abacus). Demonstrating the advantage of the system, he explained: “The nine Indian figures are: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. With these nine figures and with the sign 0 . . . any number may be written.” At first the Europeans were slow to respond. But by the close of the Middle Ages, they had accepted the new numbering system, and its simplicity encouraged scientific progress.
If you doubt that Hindu-Arabic numerals are a simplification over the previously used Roman numerals, try subtracting LXXIX from MCMXCIII. Stumped? Perhaps 79 from 1,993 would be somewhat easier.
Rekindling the Flame in Europe
Beginning in the 12th century, the flame of learning that had burned brightly in the Muslim world began to dim.
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Science—Mankind’s Ongoing Search for TruthAwake!—1993 | May 8
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[Box on page 20]
The Golden Age of Arabic Science
Al-Khwārizmī (eighth-ninth century), Iraqi mathematician and astronomer; noted for originating the term “algebra,” from al-jebr, meaning in Arabic “the union of broken parts.”
Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (eighth-ninth century), alchemist; called the father of Arab chemistry.
Al-Battānī (ninth-tenth century), astronomer and mathematician; improved Ptolemy’s astronomical calculations, thus determining with greater accuracy such things as the length of the year and of the seasons.
Ar-Rāzī (Rhazes) (ninth-tenth century), one of the best-known Persian-born physicians; first to distinguish between smallpox and measles and to classify all substances as either animal, vegetable, or mineral.
Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) of Basra (10th-11th century), mathematician and physicist; made significant contributions to the theory of optics, including refraction, reflection, binocular vision, and atmospheric refraction; first to explain correctly vision as the effect of light coming from an object to the eye.
Omar Khayyám (11th-12th century), renowned Persian mathematician, physicist, astronomer, physician, and philosopher; best known in the West for his poetry.
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