

The First True Scientist - al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham born 965 A.D. - pageman
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7810846.stm

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asifnzaidi
No one is denying Archimedes/Ptolemy or any of these great scientists. The
point the Western world must ask itself is why does it present science in such
a way so as to indicate that during its Dark Ages, the scientific world was
infact flourishing. Muslims built on this history and w/o us, modern science
would have stagnated courtesy of popes and bishops.

It must also be thought, how come after so many years in darkness then all of
a sudden Europeans made these discoveries. Not for one moment do I believe
that Leonardo DaVincis discoveries were inspirational and not built upon past
work.

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fatdog789
B/C it didn't actually happen that way. The "Dark Ages" is a myth perpetuated
in elementary school to children. The "Dark Ages" referred to the 100-200 year
period immediately after the fall of Rome, during which Western Europe was
thrown in _relative_ chaos. After that however, Europe was fairly vibrant, and
new inventions were churned out over the next several centuries (mostly
military, agricultural, and metal working technologies). Italy never lost its
luster as a center for science and research; even after Rome's fall, the
climate, location, and trade made it attractive to inventors, architects, and
artists--the Vatican did not fall. For example, the earliest patent systems,
(yes, plural) predated the reintroduction of Classical texts into Europe. Many
European scientists and mathematicians independently came up with ideas
similar to the Ancient Greek dudes, but don't get popular credit for this
because they weren't first.

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asifnzaidi
Actually, in the 'Dark Ages', it was Islamic science that was at the forefront
of the science - algebra, a new discipline, was invented by a Muslim from
Persia. It was not until 1500's that European's made inroads into science and
when Newton came along simply took science to the next level. I have no
problem admitting to facts - but what gets my goat is when Europeans present
science as something dynamic during the tmie of Greeks and then stagnant for
some period and then the boom. At least acknowledge it a bit - may even help
the world political situation !!

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compay
Western culture owes more to the Muslim scholars of the middle ages than many
realize. Aristotle, whose works had been lost in the west, was reintroduced by
Arabic scholars translated to Latin from Arabic rather than Greek. This had a
profound impact on the development of science.

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tokenadult
What about Archimedes? His pure mathematical works have survived to the
present better than some of his scientific works, but he is not alone among
Greek-speaking people of his era in being scientists. Eratosthenes must fit, I
think.

