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Saturday, 26 April 2008 12:28 |
What is Taught: The first mention of man in flight was by Roger Bacon,
who drew a flying apparatus. Leonardo da Vinci also conceived of airborne
transport and drew several prototypes.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented, constructed
and tested a flying machine in the 800's A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying
machines from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas' machine. The latter's invention
antedates Bacon by 500 years and Da Vinci by some 700 years.
What is Taught: Glass mirrors were first produced in 1291 in Venice.
What Should be Taught: Glass mirrors were in use in Islamic Spain as
early as the 11th century. The Venetians learned of the art of fine glass
production from Syrian artisans during the 9th and 10th centuries.
What is Taught: Until the 14th century, the only type of clock available
was the water clock. In 1335, a large mechanical clock was erected in Milan,
Italy. This was possibly the first weight-driven clock.
What Should be Taught: A variety of mechanical clocks were produced by
Spanish Muslim engineers, both large and small, and this knowledge was
transmitted to Europe through Latin translations of Islamic books on mechanics.
These clocks were weight-driven. Designs and illustrations of epi-cyclic and
segmental gears were provided. One such clock included a mercury escapement. The
latter type was directly copied by Europeans during the 15th century. In
addition, during the 9th century, Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain, according to Will
Durant, invented a watch-like device which kept accurate time. The Muslims also
constructed a variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for use in their
observatories.
What is Taught: In the 17th century, the pendulum was developed by
Galileo during his teenage years. He noticed a chandelier swaying as it was
being blown by the wind. As a result, he went home and invented the pendulum.
What Should be Taught: The pendulum was discovered by Ibn Yunus al-Masri
during the 10th century, who was the first to study and document its oscillatory
motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by Muslim physicists during
the 15th century.
What is Taught: Movable type and the printing press was invented in the
West by Johannes Gutenberg of Germany during the 15th century.
What Should be Taught: In 1454, Gutenberg developed the most
sophisticated printing press of the Middle Ages. However, movable brass type was
in use in Islamic Spain 100 years prior, and that is where the West's first
printing devices were made.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton's 17th century study of lenses, light and
prisms forms the foundation of the modern science of optics .
What Should be Taught: In the 1lth century al-Haytham determined virtually
everything that Newton advanced regarding optics centuries prior and is regarded
by numerous authorities as the "founder of optics. "
There is little doubt that Newton was influenced by him. Al-Haytham was the most
quoted physicist of the Middle Ages. His works were utilized and quoted by a
greater number of European scholars during the 16th and 17th centuries than
those of Newton and Galileo combined.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century, discovered that
white light consists of various rays of colored light.
What Should be Taught: This discovery was made in its entirety by al-Haytham
(11th century) and Kamal ad-Din (14th century). Newton did make original
discoveries, but this was not one of them.
What is Taught: The concept of the finite nature of matter was first
introduced by Antione Lavoisier during the 18th century. He discovered that,
although matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same.
Thus, for instance, if water is heated to steam, if salt is dissolved in water
or if a piece of wood is burned to ashes, the total mass remains unchanged.
What Should be Taught: The principles of this discovery were elaborated
centuries before by Islamic Persia's great scholar, al-Biruni (d. 1050).
Lavoisier was a disciple of the Muslim chemists and physicists and referred to
their books frequently.
What is Taught: The Greeks were the developers of trigonometry .
What Should be Taught: Trigonometry remained largely a theoretical
science among the Greeks. It was developed to a level of modern perfection by
Muslim scholars, although the weight of the credit must be given to al-Battani.
The words describing the basic functions of this science, sine, cosine and
tangent, are all derived from Arabic terms. Thus, original contributions by the
Greeks in trigonometry were minimal.
What is Taught: The use of decimal fractions in mathematics was first
developed by a Dutchman, Simon Stevin, in 1589. He helped advance the
mathematical sciences by replacing the cumbersome fractions, for instance, 1/2,
with decimal fractions, for example, 0.5.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians were the first to utilize
decimals instead of fractions on a large scale. Al-Kashi's book, Key to
Arithmetic, was written at the beginning of the 15th century and was the
stimulus for the systematic application of decimals to whole numbers and
fractions thereof. It is highly probably that Stevin imported the idea to Europe
from al-Kashi's work.
What is Taught: The first man to utilize algebraic symbols was the French
mathematician, Francois Vieta. In 1591, he wrote an algebra book describing
equations with letters such as the now familiar x and y's. Asimov says that this
discovery had an impact similar to the progression from Roman numerals to Arabic
numbers.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians, the inventors of algebra,
introduced the concept of using letters for unknown variables in equations as
early as the 9th century A.D. Through this system, they solved a variety of
complex equations, including quadratic and cubic equations. They used symbols to
develop and perfect the binomial theorem.
What is Taught: The difficult cubic equations (x to the third power)
remained unsolved until the 16th century when Niccolo Tartaglia, an Italian
mathematician, solved them.
What Should be Taught: Cubic equations as well as numerous equations of
even higher degrees were solved with ease by Muslim mathematicians as early as
the 10th century.
What is Taught: The concept that numbers could be less than zero, that is
negative numbers, was unknown until 1545 when Geronimo Cardano introduced the
idea.
What Should he Taught: Muslim mathematicians introduced negative numbers
for use in a variety of arithmetic functions at least 400 years prior to Cardano.
What is Taught: In 1614, John Napier invented logarithms and logarithmic
tables.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians invented logarithms and
produced logarithmic tables several centuries prior. Such tables were common in
the Islamic world as early as the 13th century.
What is Taught: During the 17th century Rene Descartes made the discovery
that algebra could be used to solve geometrical problems. By this, he greatly
advanced the science of geometry.
What Should be Taught: Mathematicians of the Islamic Empire accomplished
precisely this as early as the 9th century A.D. Thabit bin Qurrah was the first
to do so, and he was followed by Abu'l Wafa, whose 10th century book utilized
algebra to advance geometry into an exact and simplified science.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century, developed the
binomial theorem, which is a crucial component for the study of algebra.
What Should be Taught: Hundreds of Muslim mathematicians utilized and
perfected the binomial theorem. They initiated its use for the systematic
solution of algebraic problems during the 10th century (or prior).
What is Taught: No improvement had been made in the astronomy of the
ancients during the Middle Ages regarding the motion of planets until the 13th
century. Then Alphonso the Wise of Castile (Middle Spain) invented the Aphonsine
Tables, which were more accurate than Ptolemy's.
What Should be Taught: Muslim astronomers made numerous improvements upon
Ptolemy's findings as early as the 9th century. They were the first astronomers
to dispute his archaic ideas. In their critic of the Greeks, they synthesized
proof that the sun is the center of the solar system and that the orbits of the
earth and other planets might be elliptical. They produced hundreds of highly
accurate astronomical tables and star charts. Many of their calculations are so
precise that they are regarded as contemporary. The AlphonsineTables are little
more than copies of works on astronomy transmitted to Europe via Islamic Spain,
i.e. the Toledo Tables.
What is Taught: The English scholar Roger Bacon (d. 1292) first mentioned
glass lenses for improving vision. At nearly the same time, eyeglasses could be
found in use both in China and Europe.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain invented eyeglasses
during the 9th century, and they were manufactured and sold throughout Spain for
over two centuries. Any mention of eyeglasses by Roger Bacon was simply a
regurgitation of the work of al-Haytham (d. 1039), whose research Bacon
frequently referred to.
What is Taught: Gunpowder was developed in the Western world as a result
of Roger Bacon's work in 1242. The first usage of gunpowder in weapons was when
the Chinese fired it from bamboo shoots in attempt to frighten Mongol
conquerors. They produced it by adding sulfur and charcoal to saltpeter.
What Should be Taught: The Chinese developed saltpeter for use in
fireworks and knew of no tactical military use for gunpowder, nor did they
invent its formula. Research by Reinuad and Fave have clearly shown that
gunpowder was formulated initially by Muslim chemists. Further, these historians
claim that the Muslims developed the first fire-arms. Notably, Muslim armies
used grenades and other weapons in their defence of Algericus against the Franks
during the 14th century. Jean Mathes indicates that the Muslim rulers had
stock-piles of grenades, rifles, crude cannons, incendiary devices, sulfur bombs
and pistols decades before such devices were used in Europe. The first mention
of a cannon was in an Arabic text around 1300 A.D. Roger Bacon learned of the
formula for gunpowder from Latin translations of Arabic books. He brought forth
nothing original in this regard.
What is Taught: The compass was invented by the Chinese who may have been
the first to use it for navigational purposes sometime between 1000 and 1100 A.D
. The earliest reference to its use in navigation was by the Englishman,
Alexander Neckam (1157-1217).
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers and navigators learned of the
magnetic needle, possibly from the Chinese, and were the first to use magnetic
needles in navigation. They invented the compass and passed the knowledge of its
use in navigation to the West. European navigators relied on Muslim pilots and
their instruments when exploring unknown territories. Gustav Le Bon claims that
the magnetic needle and compass were entirely invented by the Muslims and that
the Chinese had little to do with it. Neckam, as well as the Chinese, probably
learned of it from Muslim traders. It is noteworthy that the Chinese improved
their navigational expertise after they began interacting with the Muslims
during the 8th century.
What is Taught: The first man to classify the races was the German Johann
F. Blumenbach, who divided mankind into white, yellow, brown, black and red
peoples.
What Should be Taught: Muslim scholars of the 9th through 14th centuries
invented the science of ethnography. A number of Muslim geographers classified
the races, writing detailed explanations of their unique cultural habits and
physical appearances. They wrote thousands of pages on this subject.
Blumenbach's works were insignificant in comparison.
What is Taught: The science of geography was revived during the 15th,
16th and 17th centuries when the ancient works of Ptolemy were discovered. The
Crusades and the Portuguese/Spanish expeditions also contributed to this
reawakening. The first scientifically- based treatise on geography were produced
during this period by Europe's scholars.
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers produced untold volumes of
books on the geography of Africa, Asia, India, China and the Indies during the
8th through 15th centuries. These writings included the world's first
geographical encyclopedias, almanacs and road maps. Ibn Battutah's 14 th century
masterpieces provide a detailed view of the geography of the ancient world. The
Muslim geographers of the 10th through 15th centuries far exceeded the output by
Europeans regarding the geography of these regions well into the 18th century.
The Crusades led to the destruction of educational institutions, their scholars
and books. They brought nothing substantive regarding geography to the Western
world.
What is Taught: Robert Boyle, in the 17th century, originated the science of
chemistry.
What Should be Taught: A variety of Muslim chemists, including ar-Razi,
al-Jabr, al-Biruni and al-Kindi, performed scientific experiments in chemistry
some 700 years prior to Boyle. Durant writes that the Muslims introduced the
experimental method to this science. Humboldt regards the Muslims as the
founders of chemistry.
What is Taught: Leonardo da Vinci (16th century) fathered the science of
geology when he noted that fossils found on mountains indicated a watery origin
of the earth.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (1lth century) made precisely this
observation and added much to it, including a huge book on geology, hundreds of
years before Da Vinci was born. Ibn Sina noted this as well . it is probable
that Da Vinci first learned of this concept from Latin translations of Islamic
books. He added nothing original to their findings.
What is Taught: The first mention of the geological formation of valleys
was in 1756, when Nicolas Desmarest proposed that they were formed over a long
periods of time by streams.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Sina and al-Biruni made precisely this
discovery during the 11th century (see pages 102 and 103), fully 700 years prior
to Desmarest.
What is Taught: Galileo (17th century) was the world's first great
experimenter.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (d. 1050) was the world's first great
experimenter. He wrote over 200 books, many of which discuss his precise
experiments. His literary output in the sciences amounts to some 13,000 pages,
far exceeding that written by Galileo or, for that matter, Galileo and Newton
combined.
What is Taught: The Italian Giovanni Morgagni is regarded as the father
of pathology because he was the first to correctly describe the nature of
disease.
What Should be Taught: Islam's surgeons were the first pathologists. They
fully realized the nature of disease and described a variety of diseases to
modern detail. Ibn Zuhr correctly described the nature of pleurisy, tuberculosis
and pericarditis. Az-Zahrawi accurately documented the pathology of
hydrocephalus (water on the brain) and other congenital diseases. Ibn al-Quff
and Ibn an-Nafs gave perfect descriptions of the diseases of circulation. Other
Muslim surgeons gave the first accurate descriptions of certain malignancies,
including cancer of the stomach, bowel and esophagus. These surgeons were the
originators of pathology, not Giovanni Morgagni.
What is Taught: Paul Ehrlich (19th century) is the originator of drug
chemotherapy, that is the use of specific drugs to kill microbes.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians used a variety of specific
substances to destroy microbes. They applied sulfur topically specifically to
kill the scabies mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial compounds as
topical antiseptics.
What is Taught: Purified alcohol, made through distillation, was first
produced by Arnau de Villanova, a Spanish alchemist, in 1300 A.D.
What Should be Taught: Numerous Muslim chemists produced medicinal-grade
alcohol through distillation as early as the 10th century and manufactured on a
large scale the first distillation devices for use in chemistry. They used
alcohol as a solvent and antiseptic.
What is Taught: The first surgery performed under inhalation anesthesia was
conducted by C.W. Long, an American, in 1845.
What Should be Taught : Six hundred years prior to Long, Islamic Spain's
Az-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr, among other Muslim surgeons, performed hundreds of
surgeries under inhalation anesthesia with the use of narcotic-soaked sponges
which were placed over the face.
What is Taught: During the 16th century Paracelsus invented the use of
opium extracts for anesthesia.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians introduced the anesthetic value
of opium derivatives during the Middle Ages. Opium was originally used as an
anesthetic agent by the Greeks. Paracelus was a student of Ibn Sina's works from
which it is almost assured that he derived this idea.
What is Taught: Modern anesthesia was invented in the 19th century by
Humphrey Davy and Horace Wells.
What Should be Taught: Modern anesthesia was discovered, mastered and
perfected by Muslim anesthetists 900 years before the advent of Davy and Wells.
They utilized oral as well as inhalant anesthetics.
What is Taught: The concept of quarantine was first developed in 1403. In
Venice, a law was passed preventing strangers from entering the city until a
certain waiting period had passed. If, by then, no sign of illness could be
found, they were allowed in.
What Should be Taught: The concept of quarantine was first introduced in
the 7th century A.D. by the prophet Muhammad, who wisely warned against entering
or leaving a region suffering from plague. As early as the 10th century, Muslim
physicians innovated the use of isolation wards for individuals suffering with
communicable diseases.
What is Taught: The scientific use of antiseptics in surgery was
discovered by the British surgeon Joseph Lister in 1865.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 10th century, Muslim physicians
and surgeons were applying purified alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent.
Surgeons in Islamic Spain utilized special methods for maintaining antisepsis
prior to and during surgery. They also originated specific protocols for
maintaining hygiene during the post-operative period. Their success rate was so
high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to Cordova, Spain, to be treated at
what was comparably the "Mayo Clinic" of the Middle Ages.
What is Taught: In 1545, the scientific use of surgery was advanced by
the French surgeon Ambroise Pare. Prior to him, surgeons attempted to stop
bleeding through the gruesome procedure of searing the wound with boiling oil.
Pare stopped the use of boiling oils and began ligating arteries. He is
considered the "father of rational surgery." Pare was also one of the first
Europeans to condemn such grotesque "surgical" procedures as trepanning.
What Should be Taught: Islamic Spain's illustrious surgeon, az-Zahrawi
(d. 1013), began ligating arteries with fine sutures over 500 years prior to
Pare. He perfected the use of Catgut, that is suture made from animal
intestines. Additionally, he instituted the use of cotton plus wax to plug
bleeding wounds. The full details of his works were made available to Europeans
through Latin translations.
Despite this, barbers and herdsmen continued be the primary individuals
practicing the "art" of surgery for nearly six centuries after az-Zahrawi's
death. Pare himself was a barber, albeit more skilled and conscientious than the
average ones.
Included in az-Zahrawi's legacy are dozens of books. His most famous work is a
30 volume treatise on medicine and surgery. His books contain sections on
preventive medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, drug therapy, surgical technique,
anesthesia, pre and post-operative care as well as drawings of some 200 surgical
devices, many of which he invented. The refined and scholarly az-Zahrawi must be
regarded as the father and founder of rational surgery, not the uneducated Pare.
What is Taught: William Harvey, during the early 17th century, discovered
that blood circulates. He was the first to correctly describe the function of
the heart, arteries and veins. Rome's Galen had presented erroneous ideas
regarding the circulatory system, and Harvey was the first to determine that
blood is pumped throughout the body via the action of the heart and the venous
valves. Therefore, he is regarded as the founder of human physiology.
What Should be Taught: In the 10th century, Islam's ar-Razi wrote an
in-depth treatise on the venous system, accurately describing the function of
the veins and their valves. Ibn an-Nafs and Ibn al-Quff (13th century) provided
full documentation that the blood circulates and correctly described the
physiology of the heart and the function of its valves 300 years before Harvey.
William Harvey was a graduate of Italy's famous Padua University at a time when
the majority of its curriculum was based upon Ibn Sina's and ar-Razi's
textbooks.
What is Taught: The first pharmacopeia (book of medicines) was published
by a German scholar in 1542. According to World Book Encyclopedia, the science
of pharmacology was begun in the 1900's as an off-shoot of chemistry due to the
analysis of crude plant materials. Chemists, after isolating the active
ingredients from plants, realized their medicinal value.
What Should be Taught: According to the eminent scholar of Arab history,
Phillip Hitti, the Muslims, not the Greeks or Europeans, wrote the first
"modern" pharmacopeia. The science of pharmacology was originated by Muslim
physicians during the 9th century. They developed it into a highly refined and
exact science. Muslim chemists, pharmacists and physicians produced thousands of
drugs and/or crude herbal extracts one thousand years prior to the supposed
birth of pharmacology. During the 14th century Ibn Baytar wrote a monumental
pharmacopeia listing some 1400 different drugs. Hundreds of other pharmacopeias
were published during the Islamic Era. It is likely that the German work is an
offshoot of that by Ibn Baytar, which was widely circulated in Europe.
What is Taught: The discovery of the scientific use of drugs in the
treatment of specific diseases was made by Paracelsus, the Swiss-born physician,
during the 16th century. He is also credited with being the first to use
practical experience as a determining factor in the treatment of patients rather
than relying exclusively on the works of the ancients.
What Should be Taught: Ar-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Kindi, Ibn Rushd, az -Zahrawi,
Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Baytar, Ibn al-Jazzar, Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Quff, Ibn an-Nafs, al-Biruni,
Ibn Sahl and hundreds of other Muslim physicians mastered the science of drug
therapy for the treatment of specific symptoms and diseases. In fact, this
concept was entirely their invention. The word "drug" is derived from Arabic.
Their use of practical experience and careful observation was extensive.
Muslim physicians were the first to criticize ancient medical theories and
practices. Ar-Razi devoted an entire book as a critique of Galen's anatomy. The
works of Paracelsus are insignificant compared to the vast volumes of medical
writings and original findings accomplished by the medical giants of Islam.
What is Taught: The first sound approach to the treatment of disease was
made by a German, Johann Weger, in the 1500's.
What Should be Taught: Harvard's George Sarton says that modern medicine
is entirely an Islamic development and that Setting the Record Straight the
Muslim physicians of the 9th through 12th centuries were precise, scientific,
rational and sound in their approach. Johann Weger was among thousands of
Europeans physicians during the 15th through 17th centuries who were taught the
medicine of ar-Razi and Ibn Sina. He contributed nothing original.
What is Taught: Medical treatment for the insane was modernized by
Philippe Pinel when in 1793 he operated France's first insane asylum .
What Should be Taught: As early as the 1lth century, Islamic hospitals
maintained special wards for the insane. They treated them kindly and presumed
their disease was real at a time when the insane were routinely burned alive in
Europe as witches and sorcerers. A curative approach was taken for mental
illness and, for the first time in history, the mentally ill were treated with
supportive care, drugs and psychotherapy. Every major Islamic city maintained an
insane asylum where patients were treated at no charge. In fact, the Islamic
system for the treatment of the insane excels in comparison to the current
model, as it was more humane and was highly effective as well.
What is Taught: Kerosine was first produced by the an Englishman, Abraham
Gesner, in 1853. He distilled it from asphalt.
What Should be Taught: Muslim chemists produced kerosine as a distillate
from petroleum products over 1,000 years prior to Gesner (see Encyclopaedia
Britannica under the heading, Petroleum).
Source: Islamic Homeschool Diary Blog
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