DOHA: The Golden Age of Arab-Muslim civilisation had witnessed an extraordinary development of sciences, according to experts at the "History of Arab Sciences Conference," yesterday. During the period, science and research had flourished much to be the root of modern scientific thought.
The conference is a part of the on going exhibition "The Golden Age of the Arab Sciences", which is organised by Total and Katara, in cooperation with the French Embassy and Paris-based Institute of Arab World.
One of the notable achievements during the golden era was scientific instruments, most of which are still viable. At first, instruments designed and built in the Arab world were rather simple but they eventually achieved a remarkable sophistication in different fields ranging from astronomy, in which its development is perhaps the most notable, to medicine, engineering, chemistry etc.
"In medicine, Zahrawi had found various surgical tools like forceps for various uses, cataract surgery instruments and also files for working on dental plaque apart from various other surgical tools. Various books on mechanical devices have been found showcasing the engineering skills of the experts during the period," said Emilia Calvo, Tenured Professor, Director of the Department of Semitic Philology, University of Barcelona said.
"World map for finding distance and direction to Makkha from anywhere in the world, from 17th century Arabia, was rediscovered in 1985 -1989. The map had latitude and longitude grids with Makkha at the centre giving an accurate idea about distance and direction. Until then, it was believed that such grid was found in Europe in 1910. However this discovery showed that it was used in the Arab-world centuries ago and also proved the existence of Islamic tradition of having Makkha-centric world maps. Added to this are astrolabes, gnomon, rings, armillary spheres, celestial globe, analogue computers, mathematical grids, equatorial etc," she said.
Most common characteristic of the 9th to 17th century Arab instrument was that they were easy to use but difficult to construct. Also, to make their observations as accurate as possible, bigger and bigger instruments were made like the Ulugh Beg Observatory in Samarqand with a radius of 40 m and similar observatories in India.
"Hundreds of instruments made during the era have been preserved and there are texts describing how to construct many other instruments. However, many of the works are still unexplored," she said
Dr Régis Morellon, Professor emeritus, CNRS (French National centre for Scientific Research) discussed the history of the Arabic astronomy, where the scientists initially strove to refine Ptolemy's ancient Geek astronomic system with observations and improved methods of measurement of their own. Many of the earlier system was challenged and eventually overthrown with new Arab models to capture the movement of stars and planets, according to him.
"The interest of Muslims in ancient sciences led them to successfully decipher many of the ancient scripts long before European scholars attempted to do so. The sources of Islamic sciences were deeply rooted in many ancient civilisations where Muslim scholars felt kinship with fellow scientists regardless of time difference, colour, race, language or creed," said Dr Okasha El Daly, Director of Projects, Qatar Museums Authority.
"The Arabs have added to science, expanded it and had helped to flourish science interest. Even today, astronomical discoveries made by the then Arab scientists are accurate and most of the terminologies used during the period is being used even in the modern astronomy," said Dr Khalid Al Subai, Director of Research Coordination and Compliance, Qatar Foundation
The event is held as part of the "Golden Age of the Arab Sciences" exhibition that showcases some 200 artefacts from 40 galleries and museums round the world.
The event which will end on April 30, displays works by scientists, physicians, astronomers, engineers, artists, chemists and architects Golden Age of Arabs.
Besides display of actual manuscripts, images, works and other texts, audio-visual modules are included in the walk-through of the expo, curated by Prof Ahmed Djebbar, a French professor of mathematics and a researcher of science history.
© The Peninsula 2011
