Middle Eastern/Islamic Science

Matt Donahue, Molly Kalla,

Brianna Simons

Mathematics• Many ideas were borrowed from previous

studies done by Greeks, Iranians, and Indians.

• Omar Khayyam and Nasiruddin Tusi helped create Euclidean Geometry

• Trigonometry was developed by Muslims

• The Word "sine" is a direct translation of the Arabic word "jayh" meaning curve.

Nasiruddin Tusi

• Helped fund and build an observatory in Iran and wrote a critique on the Polemic understanding of interplanetary motion which helped Europeans develop their heliocentric theory

Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi (1780-1850)

• Islamic mathematician who wrote on Hindu-Arabic numerals

• Among the first to use zero as a place holder in positional base notation

• “Algorithm” is derived from his name • His algebra treatise Hisab al-jabr w'al-

muqabala gives us the word algebra and can be considered as the first book to be written on algebra

• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=887278D6-2625-4443-BC2A-F27356E63F62&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

Jabir ibn Hayyan (725-815) • Great Muslim Chemist• Known as Gerber to the Europeans• Came to alchemy through his practical work

as an apothecary • Identified the union of elements at a

molecular level to form new compounds without losing their own structure

• His classifications:– "The Spirits"= could be vaporized with fire – "Metallic Bodies"= could be hammered + shiny +

lustrous – "The Bodies"= could not be hammered, but could

be pulverized

Ibn Sina • Wrote a book about medicine called

al-Qanun fil-tibb in which he listed every disease known at thetime and their cures

• known as al-Sheikh al-Rais (Leader among the wise men) to his students and as "Prince of Physicians" to the west for his famous medical text al-Qanun "Canon".

• Detail from his Canon of Medicine

al-Razi (865-925) • Born at Ray, Iran • Known as Rhazes to the Europeans • Razi was a Hakim, an alchemist and a

philosopher • Wrote books on chemistry widely used

by European scholars describing minerals, their properties, and their applications

• His al-Judari wal Hasabah was the first treatise on smallpox and chicken-pox

• He was an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anaesthesia

• Basic elements in his philosophical system include the creator, spirit, matter, space and time

al-Biruni (973-1048 AD) • Discovered the mathematical formula for finding

exactly when a season starts/ends and seven different methods to find north and south

• He proved that when the speed of sound is compared to the speed of light, the speed of light is very fast

• Famous books:– Qanun-i-Masoodi discusses several theories of

astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary movements, ect.

– Kitab-al-Saidana- Indian medicine – Kitab-al-Jamahir- properties of precious stones – al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina’at al-Tanjim- summary of

mathematics and astronom

Ibn al-Haytham

• Born in Basra • Known in the West as Alhazen • Used optics and measured the

atmospheres thickness and the effect the thickness had on atmospherical observations

• Developed the scientific theory by testing hypotheses with verifiable experiment

Syrian Ibn al-Nafis (1213-1288 A.D.)

• Born in Damascus, Syria • A physician, anatomist, physiologist,

surgeon, ophthalmologist, Hadith scholar, Shafi`i jurist and lawyer, theologian, philosopher, logician, novelist, psychologist, sociologist, scientist, science fiction writer, astronomer, cosmologist, futurist, geologist, grammarian, linguist and historian

• Most famous discovery was that of blood circulation which disproved a 1000 year old theory that suggested that there were invisible pores in the intraventricular septum

General Overview and Effect of Islamic Culture

•http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=367E7639-2E74-4444-A9D9-689ABA50DF7D&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

• The Middle East/Islamic culture had a profound effefct on the math and heliocentric theories. Without their achivements and scientific discoverier other scientific advancements would not have been possible because many of them relied on mathematics discovered by the Islamic culture.

Citations• Jabir Ibn Hayyan http://home.att.net/~a.f.aly/jabir.htm• http://www.chemheritage.org/explore/ancients-hayyan.html• Image-http://www.iaphomepage.org/arab/arab202/ibn.jpg• Image-http://www.pharmacorner.com/images/ph%20history/jaber_ibn_hayyan.jpg• http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/ Site © Copyright 2001-2007 by Islamic Philosophy Online, Inc. IBN SINA (AVICENNA) • Douglass, Susan. World of Eras Volume 2: The Rise of Islam. New Haven:

A Manly Inc., 2002. • http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Mathematicians/Al-Khwarizmi.html• Image- http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/637_Al-Khwarizmi-Muhammad-Ibn-Musa.jpg• Detail from Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine.. IRC. 2005.

Discovery Education. 22 November 2009<http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/>

• http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/phil/philo/phils/muslim/razi.html al-Raz Chris Marvin 1995-2000 • http://www.levity.com/alchemy/images/razi.gif• http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hmc.org.qa/qmj/images/biruni.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hmc.org.qa/qmj/june

%25202004/edit/topics.htm&usg=__wmWJ7XkuaFP3Uv7rY5_czmTFwJg=&h=281&w=228&sz=68&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=J9atVxnamCoKcM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=92&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dal-Biruni%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1 BIOGRAPHY

• ABU RAIHAN AL BIRUNI

• http://www.ibnalhaytham.net/ Ibn al Haytham - The First Scientist – Alhazen

• http://www.ibnalnafis.com/en/aboutus/21/Ibn-al_Nafis