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- Christopher Mcfadden
- Horizontal-plane Windmills first appeared during the Islamic Golden Age. Whilst Heron of Alexandria developed early forms of windmills in the 1st Century AD, horizontal plane windmills were first described by Ahmad Y. al-Hassan in the 10th Century AD.
- The Astrolabe was refined by Muslim astronomers. Astrolabe is a blend of a planisphere (basic star chart mechanical computer) and dioptra (sighting tube).
- The Oud was an Islamic invention. The Oud, a short-neck lute-like, pear-shaped stringed instrument, first appeared in the Islamic world during their “Golden Age.”
- The Rebab may be the forerunner to the fiddle. The Rebab, also known as a jawza or djooza, is a type of stringed instrument that first appears during the 8th Century AD.
- Coffee
- The Flying Machine
- Algebra
- Hospitals
- Modern Optics
- Surgery
- Universities
- The Crank
- Bowed Instruments
Yemen is where the ubiquitous dark bean brew has its origins from around the 9th century. In its early days, coffee assisted Sufis and Mullahs to stay up during late nights of religious devotion. It was later brought to Cairo in Egypt by a group of students. By the 13th century, coffee had reached Turkey, but it wasn’t until 300 years later that th...
Although Leonardo Da Vinci is associated with early designs for flying machines, it was Andalusian-born astronomer and engineer Abbas ibn Firnas who first constructed a flying device, and technically flew it, in the 9th century. Firnas’ design consisted of a winged apparatus made of silk that fitted around a man like a bird costume. During a botche...
The word algebra comes from the title of the 9th-century book Kitab al-Jabra, by Persian mathematician and astronomer Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi. The pioneering work translates as a tome of reasoning and balancing by the man who became known as the ‘father of algebra’. Al-Khwarizmi was also the first individual to introduce the mathematical con...
What we now view as modern centres of health – providing medical treatments, training and study – first emerged in 9th-century Egypt. The very first medical centre is thought to have been constructed in Cairo in 872 by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the ‘Abbasid governor of Egypt’. Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, as it is known, provided free care for all – a policy b...
Around the year 1000, the physicist and mathematician Ibn al-Haytham proved the theory that humans see objects by light reflecting off them and entering the eye. This radical view went against the established theory at the time that light was emitted from the eye itself and pioneered centuries of scientific study into the human eye. Al-Haytham also...
Born in 936, court physician Al Zahrawi, from southern Spain, published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopaedia of surgery techniques and tools titled Kitab al Tasrif. The book went on to be used as a medical reference tool in Europe for 500 years. Alongside his surgical investigations, he developed surgical tools for C-sections and cataract surgeri...
The first university in the world was the University of al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco. It was founded by Fatima al-Fihri, a Muslim woman from Tunisia. The institution first emerged as a mosque in 859, but later grew into the al-Qarawiyyan mosque and university. It still operates 1200 years later and is a reminder that learning is at the core of the...
The hand-operated crank is thought to have first been used in ancient China. The device led to the emergence, in 1206, of the revolutionary crank and connecting rod system, which converted rotary motion into a reciprocating one. First documented by Ismail al-Jazari, a scholar, inventor and mechanical engineer in what is now Iraq, it assisted with t...
Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the Arabian rabab, the first known bowed instrument and an ancestor of the violin, which was played widely in Spain and France in the 15th century. Modern musical skills are also said to have derived from the Arabic alphabet.
- Richard Bevan
The golden age is considered to have come into existence through a gigantic endeavor to acquire and translate the ancient sciences of the Greeks between the eighth and ninth centuries. The translations era was followed by two centuries of splendid original thinking and contributions, and is known as the "golden age" of Islamic science.
The Islamic Golden Age is traditionally dated from the mid-7th century to the mid-13th century during which Muslim rulers established one of the largest empires in history. During this period, artists, engineers, scholars, poets, philosophers, geographers, and traders in the Islamic world contributed to agriculture, the arts, economics ...
- Surgery. Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years.
- Coffee. Now the Western world's drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion.
- Flying machine. "Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly," said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume.
- University. In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University.
Scholars living in Baghdad translated Greek texts and made scientific discoveries—which is why this era, from the seventh to thirteenth centuries CE, is named the Golden Age of Islam. A love of knowledge was evident in Baghdad , established in 762 CE as the capital city of the Abbasid Caliphate in modern-day Iraq.
Mar 18, 2006 · 1. Legend tells of an Arab goat herder who noticed their change in mood when his goats ate a certain berry. He boiled the berries and came up with the first coffee. 2. The ancient Greeks thought...
