Download The Early `Abbasid Baghdad

The Genesis of
Science
Arabic Science:
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Jim al-Khalili
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• A term that is used to refer to the
different activities that were sponsored
by the Abbasid caliphs shortly after 750
in different scientific fields, including:
mathematics, astronomy, medicine,
and optics.
Mathematics
• Hisab or ‘ilm al-a‘dad is the Arabic term
used for Arithmetic.
• Arabic theory of ‘ilm al-’adad derives
from two sources:
- Books VII through IX of Euclid’s
Elements and the Introduction to the
Science of Numbers by Nicomachus of
Gerasa (this work was translated by
Thabit b. Qurrah).
Mathematics
• Our modern number system is
called Hindu-Arabic in recognition
of its origins in the number systems
of India and Arabia. Our number
system depends fundamentally on
the number 0 (zero), which was
invented by Arab mathematicians.
A numeral is sometimes called a
cipher (hence encipher, decipher) from
the Arabic word sifr meaning zero.
Mathematics
• Ghiyath al-Din Abu ’l-Fath
‘Umar al-Khayyām Nishapuri
(1048-1131) was a Persian
polymath,
philosopher,
mathematician
who
contributed to the development
of arithmetic, astronomer and
poet. He also wrote treatises on
mechanics,
geography,
mineralogy, music, and Islamic
theology.
Mathematics
• ‘Umar al-Khayyām wrote the
influential
Treatise
on
Demonstration of Problems of Algebra
which developed the principles
of algebra, part of the body of
Persian Mathematics that was
eventually
transmitted
to
Europe. In particular, he derived
general methods for solving
cubic equations and even some
higher orders.
Mathematics
Abu Abdullah Mohammad b. Musa alKhawarizmi (d. c. 225/840).
• Adapted Ptolemy’s Geographike Hyphegesis
• He wrote the first handbook in Arabic on
Indian reckoning,
• “Father of Algebra”
• “algorithm”
• He wrote an influential
treatise on algebra
Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabala in
the latter half of the twelfth century.
The Development of Astronomy
This science developed because of practical concerns and religious reasons
among Muslims, and their needs to define the time of prayers. Baghdad, Cairo,
Damascus, and Maragha were major centers of astronomical research.
The Arabs and Muslims developed major
instruments for observation, including:
• Astrolabe: it was used to determine the time of day or night.
• The most popular type of astrolabe was Planispheric Astrolabe.
• al-Zijes: a set of new tables with astronomical data.
• Mibna and I’tibar are Arabic words that were used in Astronomy to render the
concept of testing.
• Al-Mumtahan: a new set of tables were made during the reign of al-Ma’mun
by a group of astronomers.
Astronomy
• al-Shammasiyya district,
on the left bank of the
Tigris
• Ibrahim al-Fazari (d.
179/796 or 190/806)
• Translated the Indian
book of Astronomy,
Sindhind, into Arabic for
al-Mansur
• Helped
plan
the
foundation of Baghdad
• The first in the Arab
world
to
make
astrolabes
Astronomy
• Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn
Hasan Tusi (1201-1274), better
known as Nasir al-Din Tusi was a
Persian polymath and prolific
writer on a number of subjects
including: architecture, astronomy,
biology, chemistry, mathematics,
philosophy, medicine, physics and
theology. If we take all fields into
account, he was more responsible
for the revival of the Islamic
sciences than any other individual.
Astronomy
• Tusi convinced Hulegu Khan to
construct an observatory for
establishing the most accurate
astronomical tables for better
astrological predictions.
• Tusi made very accurate tables of
planetary movements as depicted
in his book Zij-i ilkhani (Ilkhanic
Tables).
• It was in his works that
trigonometry achieved the status
of an independent branch of pure
mathematics.
Astronomy
• This book contains detailed
astronomical
tables
for
calculating the positions of the
planets and the names of the
stars. His model for the
planetary system is believed to
be the most advanced of his
time, and was used extensively
until the development of the
heliocentric model in the time
of Nicolaus Copernicus.
Optics
The sources for Arabic optics were:
a) the writings of mathematicians Euclid,
Ptolemy and Archimedes.
b) the medical treatise of Galen
c) the philosophical works of Aristotle.
Hunayn Ibn Ishaq book “ the Ten treatise
on the Eye” was based on Galen’s theory of
vision.
The Physics of Light
• Abū ‘Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Hasan Ibn
al-Haytham,
known
by
the
Latinized: Alhacen/Alhazen) (9651040) was a Muslim polymath,
mathematician, astronomer and
philosopher.
• He made significant contributions to
the principles of optics, as well as to
physics, astronomy, Arabic geometry,
ophthalmology, philosophy, and to
the scientific method.
• He
also
wrote
insightful
commentaries on works by Aristotle,
Ptolemy,
and
the
Greek
mathematician Euclid.
The Physics of Light
• Ibn al-Haytham wrote a famouse
book Kitab al-Manazir (the Book of
Optics). He proved that rays of light
travel in straight lines, and carried
out various experiments with lenses,
mirrors, refraction, and reflection.
• Ibn al-Haytham also gave the first
clear description and early analysis of
the camera obscura and pinhole
camera.
• An aspect associated with Ibn alHaytham’s optical research is related
to systemic and methodological
reliance on experimentation (i‘tibar)
and controlled testing in his scientific
inquiries.
The Development of Medicine
Baghdad was a major center for the study of medicine, and there were more
than 800 doctors.
There was interest and understanding of anatomy and the treatment of
diseases. Muslims adopted Greek knowledge of medicine.
Islamic medicine was influenced by the Jundishapur and the medical schools
that developed in south-west Iran. It was also influenced by the Nestorians,
who sought refuge, and taught Greek medicine in Syriac and Greek
translations, and Jewish and Indian ideas.
• The first earliest hospital in the Islamic world was built in Baghdad by
Jibra’il b. Bkhtishu‘ who was the head of the school in Jundishapur, and
who later became a court physician during the caliph al-Mansur.
• Physicians had to pass medical exams before they could
practice.
• There were departments for quick treatments and
emergency.
Medicine
• Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi
known as Rhazes or Rasis after
medieval Latinists (865-925), was a
Persian polymath, a prominent figure
in Islamic Golden Age, physician,
alchemist and chemist, philosopher,
and scholar.
• Numerous “firsts” in medical research,
clinical care, and chemistry are
attributed to him, including being the
first to differentiate smallpox from
measles, and the discovery of
numerous compounds and chemicals
including kerosene.
Medicine
• Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas al-Zahrawi
(936–1013), also known in the West as Abulcasis,
was an Arab physician who lived in al-Andalus.
• He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to
have appeared from the Islamic World, and has
been described by many as the father of modern
surgery. His greatest contribution to medicine is
the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume encyclopaedia
of medical practices.
• His pioneering contributions to the field of
surgical procedures and instruments had an
enormous impact in the East and West well into
the modern period, where some of his discoveries
are still applied in medicine to this day.
• He was the first physician to describe an ectopic
pregnancy, and the first physician to identify the
hereditary nature of haemophilia.
Medicine
• Ala’ al-Din Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali alDimashqi, known as Ibn al-Nafis, was an
Arab physician who is mostly famous for
being the first to describe the pulmonary
circulation of the blood.
• He was born in 1213 in Damascus and he
attended the Medical College Hospital
there.
• In 1236, Ibn al-Nafis moved to Egypt. He
worked at the al-Nasri Hospital, and
subsequently at the al-Mansouri Hospital,
where he became chief of physicians and
the Sultan’s personal physician. When he
died in 1288, he donated his house, library
and clinic to the Mansuriya Hospital.
Medicine
• Ibn Sina, he was a famous medical scientist, and he is
the most famous Muslim medical scientist in the west
until today .
• especially his Book The Canon of Medicine “ al-qanun
fi at-tib.” This book included all the knowledge of the
Arabs and Greeks about treating disease and had
more than 4,000 prescriptions to treat diseases.
• Ibn Sina also wrote “the Book of Healing” – “Kitab alShifa’a’”
Hunayn Ibn Ishaq’s Book of the Ten Treatises the
Eye was based on Galenic theory of vision.
The Life of Science: Internal and Clinical
Medicine
Ibn al-Jazzar
• Ibn al-Jazzar (died about 984)
• He was a successful medical, practitioner,
therapist and author in
Qirawan in Tunisia.
• He specialized in child care.
• His books on child care,
medicine and dietetic were
translated into European languages.
Ophthalmology and Eye
Diseases
• It is one of the main fields in which Arab physicians and oculists
attained a level of proficiency that was never reached by the
ancient and classical sages.
•
Hunayn b. Ishaq (the famous translator) was the first to write a
systematic manual on ophthalmology.
• The Study of ophthalmology reached its peak in the work of
‘Ali b. ‘Isa in Baghdad, who is the author of Dhakhirat alKahhalin (A Thesaurus for Ophthalmologists).
• ‘Ali al-Mawsili was the first to introduce the technique of
suction removal of the cataract to avoide the “aqueous
calamity.”
• Al-Ghafiqi of al-Andalus wrote also a guide to the oculist, in
which he provided pictures of the surgical instruments he
used in performing eye operations.
Pharmacy and Pharmacology
• It became an independent science under Islam.
• Practiced by skilled specialists.
• Sabur b. Sahl (d. 869) was
the author of the first known
formulary in Islam.
Ibn al-Tilmidh also wrote
Al-Aqrabadhin, a pharmaceutical text explaining
how to prepare or prescribe a variety of
medications.
Geography
Kitab Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq by al-Idrisi.
Agricultural Science
• The Greeks, Nabateans legacies as well as the indigenous
traditions all contributed to the development of
agriculture in Islam.
• Al-Filahah al-Rumiyah.
• Ibn Wahshiyah wrote his famous book on
al-Filahah al-Nabatiyah.
•
Ibn al-Bassal, the Andalusian wrote various books on
the subject.
• Al-‘Awwam of Seville wrote another book kitab al-Filahah.