2. In the year 650, the
literature of Egyptian
alchemy was translated into
the Arabic language.
It had long been thought that the
hieroglyphics were first deciphered
in 1822. Now it has been found out
that Muslims were the first ones to
translate Eyptian Hieroglyphics.
3. In the year 700, an early industrial factory
complex for Islamic pottery and glass
production was built in Ar-Raqqah, Syria.
Extensive experimentation was carried out
at the complex, which was two kilometres
in length, and a variety of innovative highpurity glass were developed there. Two
other similar complexes were also built, and
nearly three hundred new chemical recipes
for glass were produced at all three sites.
4. In 754, the first
pharmacy and
drugstores were
opened in
Baghdad.
The first apothecary
(pharmacist) shops were also
opened in the Islamic world.
5. In 763, The House of Wisdom was
founded and the translation movement
was started by the Abbasid caliph
Harun al-Rashid. The caliph would
pay it’s weight in gold for every
translated book.
Through the translation movement, Muslims traveled to all parts of the world to find and translate
knowledge from other civilizations. They translated ancient Egyptian, Hebrew, Persian, Greek, and
Roman knowledge into Arabic. This way they became transmitters of knowledge that was almost
lost and forgotten. After they had finished gathering and learning all the knowledge they could find
in the world, they started critisizing, adding their own ideas and producing original works of their
own.
6. In 763, the first Bimaristan
(hospital) opened in Baghdad
during the Caliphate of Harun
al-Rashid.
7. In 780, Jabir ibn Hayyan, a Muslim chemist who is
considered by many to be the father of chemistry,
introduced the experimental scientific method for
chemistry, as well as laboratory apparatus such as
the alembic, still and retort, and chemical
processes such as pure distillation, liquefaction,
crystallization, and filtration.
He also invented more than
twenty types of laboratory
apparatus, leading to the
discovery of many chemical
substances. He also developed
recipes for stained glass and
described lustre-painting on
glass.
8. • Muhammad bin Musa alKhwarizmi founded the
algorithm. Without
algorithms we would not
have had computers.
9. In 850 Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi invented the
quadrant, the mural instrument, the sine quadrant (also
known as the "Sinecal Quadrant"; the Arabic term for it
is "Rubul Mujayyab") which was used for solving
trigonometric problems and making astronomical
observations. He also invented the alidade.
THE BASIC ALIDADE
Ulugh Beg's mural sextant,
constructed in Samarkand,
Uzbekistan during the 15th
THE MURAL INSTRUMENT century.
10. In 796, the first brass astrolabe was built by
Muhammad al-Fazari.
The astrolabe was a complicated astronomical devise that
served many purposes like telling time, finding the direction
of the Qıble and showing the positions of the stars.
11. In 800, Tin-opacified
glazing was developed by
Islamic potters.
Tin-glazing is the process of giving ceramic
items a tin-based glaze which is white, shiny
and opaque.
12. The first insane asylum
(Psychiatric hospital)
in Egypt was erected by
Muslim physicians in Cairo.
13. In the 9th century, the first
practical windmill, the vertical
axle windmill, was invented in
eastern Persia.
14. In 810, Abbas Ibn Firnas was born. He
was the first to make glass from stones
(quartz).He made the earliest recorded
attempt at controlled flight, devised
means of manufacturing colorless glass,
and developed a process for cutting
rock crystal.
Another invention was an
artificial weather
simulation room, in which
spectators were
astonished by artificial
thunder and lightning.
15. In 820, Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz wrote a number of
works on zoology, Arabic grammar, rhetoric,
and lexicography. His most famous work is the
Book of Animals, in which he first discussed food
chains.
16. In 820, Muhammad ibn Musa alKhwarizmi wrote The
Compendious Book on
Calculation by Completion and
Balancing, more briefly referred
to al-jabr, or algebra.
Algebra gave mathematics a
whole new development path
so much broader in concept to
that which had existed before,
and provided a vehicle for
future development of the
subject.
17. In 850, the Banu Musa brothers wrote the Book of
Ingenious Devices, in which they describe some of their
inventions: the valve, float valve, feedback controller,
float chamber, automatic control, Automatic flute
player, Programmable machine, Trick drinking vessels,
gas mask, grab, clamshell grab, fail-safe system,
hurricane lamp, self-feeding oil lamp, self-trimming oil
lamp, mechanical musical instrument, and
hydropowered organ.
18. In 850, madrasahs, the forebears
of modern universities were
established. They were
institutions of higher education
and research which issued
academic degrees at all levels
(bachelor, master and doctorate).
The first universities in Europe were influenced in many
ways by the madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate
of Sicily at the time, and in the Middle East during the
Crusades.
19. In 850, the basic water
turbine was invented by
Muslim engineers in the
Islamic world.
20. In 859 The University of Al Karaouine in Fes,
Morocco was founded by Princess Fatima alFihri.
It is recognized by the Guinness Book of World
Records as the oldest academi c degree-granting
university in the world ..
21. In 865 Muhammad ibn Zakariya
Razi was born. In his Secretum
secretorum, he described a
variety of tools for melting
substances and the
preparation of drugs.
He also classified natural and
derivative (artificial) chemical
substances which was the early
form of the periodic table of
elements.
22. In 875 Abbas Ibn Firnas
reportedly successfully
employed an ornithopter
for manned flight.
23. In 880, Al-Dinawari, the founder of Arabic botany,
wrote the Book of Plants, which describes at least
637 plants; it discusses the phases of plant growth
and the production of flowers and fruit.
24. In 900, the first public
library and lending
library were built in
the Islamic world. The
library catalog was
also invented in
Islamic libraries.
25. In the 10th century ,the first reference to
an "observation tube" is found in the
work of Al-Battani, and the first exact
description of the observation tube was
given by al-Biruni. Though these early
observation tubes did not have lenses,
they "enabled an observer to focus on a
part of the sky by eliminating light
interference." These observation tubes
were later adopted in Latin-speaking
Europe, where they may have influenced
the development of the telescope.
26. In 900, the first wind
powered gristmills and sugar
refineries appeared in
Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Iran. The first geared
gristmills and the on/off
switch were also invented by
Muslim engineers.
27. In 925, Kerosene was
produced from the
distillation of petroleum and
was first described by al-Razi
in Baghdad. He also
described the first kerosene
lamps (naffatah) used for
heating and lighting in his
Kitab al-Asrar (Book of
Secrets).
28. In 930, the cartographic grid
was invented in Baghdad.
Graph paper was also
invented in the Islamic world.
29. The earliest historical record of a
reservoir fountain pen dates
back to 953, when Ma'ād alMu'izz, the caliph of Egypt,
demanded a pen which would
not stain his hands or clothes,
and was provided with a pen
which held ink in a reservoir and
delivered it to the nib via gravity
and capillary action, as recorded
by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d.
974) in his Kitab al-Majalis wa'lmusayardt.
30. In 964, Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi wrote
the Book of Fixed Stars, a star
catalogue thoroughly illustrated
with observations and descriptions
of the stars, their positions, their
apparent magnitudes and their
colour. He identified the Large
Magellanic Cloud, which is visible
from Yemen, though not from
Isfahan; it was not seen by
Europeans until Magellan's voyage
in the 16th century. He also made
earliest recorded observation of the
Andromeda Galaxy in 964 AD;
describing it as a "small cloud".[
31. In 1000, Ammar ibn Ali of Mosul
wrote the Choice of Eye Diseases,
a landmark text on ophthalmology
in medieval Islam. In cataract
surgery, he attempted the earliest
extraction of cataracts using
suction. He invented a hollow
metallic syringe hypodermic
needle, which he applied through
the sclerotic and successfully
extracted the cataracts through
suction.
32. In 1000 Al-Karaji wrote a book
containing the first known proofs
by mathematical induction. He
who used it to prove the binomial
theorem, Pascal's triangle, and
the sum of integral cubes.
33. In 1000 in Al-Andalus, Ibn Khalaf
al-Muradi invented complex
gearing, Epicyclic gearing,
segmental gearing, and the
geared mechanical clock. Muslim
engineers also invented the
Weight-driven mechanical clock.
34. In 1000 Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi
published his 30-volume medical
encyclopedia, the Al-Tasrif, which
remained a standard textbook in
Muslim and European universities
until the 16th century.
The book first introduced many
surgical instruments and a variety of
other instruments. He also invented
the plaster cast cotton dressing, oral
anaesthesia, inhalational anaesthetic,
and anaesthetic sponge.
35. In 1010, Al-Sijzi
invented the
Zuraqi, a unique
astrolabe designed
for a heliocentric
planetary model in
which the Earth is
moving rather than
the sky.
36. In 1010, Abu al-Rayhan alBiruni hypothesized that
India was once covered by
the Indian Ocean while
observing rock formations
at the mouths of rivers,
introduced techniques to
measure the Earth and
distances on it using
triangulation, and
measured the radius of the
Earth as 6339.6 km, the
most accurate up until the
16th century.
37. Ibn al-Haytham proved that light travels
in straight lines using the scientific
method by carrying out various
experiments with lenses, mirrors,
refraction, and reflection in his Book of
Optics (1021). He was considered the
father of optics and pioneer of scientific
method.
His Book of Optics correctly explains light and vision, and
introduces experimental scientific method, laying the
foundations for experimental physics.
Ibn al-Haytham also gave the first
clear description and correct analysis
of the camera obscura and pinhole
camera and built the world's first
camera obscura.
38. In 1025 Avicenna publishedd
his 14-volume encyclopedia,
The Canon of Medicine, which
remained a standard text at
European universities until
the 17th century.
Its contributions include the
discovery of contagious disease, and
introduction of experimental
medicine, clinical trials, and clinical
pharmacology. It also discusses
neuropsychiatry, the idea of a
syndrome, and early cancer therapy.
39. In 1030, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni stated that
light has a finite speed, and he was the
first to theorize that the speed of light is
much faster than the speed of sound.
40. In the 12th century,, Muhammad al-Idrisi
produced a world map and the first known
globe. His Tabula Rogeriana was the most
accurate world map in his time and was used
extensively for several centuries through to
the explorations during the European Age of
Discovery.
41. In 1110, Ibn Tufayl was born. He
wrote Hayy ibn Yaqzan, a
philosophical novel which has a
strong influence on the Scientific
Revolution.
42. • In 1206, Al-Jazari published The
Book of Knowledge of Ingenious
Mechanical Devices, in which he
describes fifty inventions,
including mechanical clocks, the
elephant clock, camshaft,
crankshaft, suction pipe,
reciprocating piston motion,
programmable humanoid robot
and castle clock, automatic gate,
paper models, sand casting,
crank-driven chain pump, waterpowered saqiya chain pump, and
water-powered astronomical
clocks.
43. • In 1259 The Maragheh
observatory was founded by
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. It was the
first example of the
observatory as a research
institute.
44. • In 1260, the first portable hand cannons
(midfa) loaded with explosive gunpowder,
the first example of a handgun and
portable firearm, were used by the
Egyptians to repel the Mongols at the
Battle of Ain Jalut. The cannons had an
explosive gunpowder composition almost
identical to the ideal compositions for
modern explosive gunpowder. They were
also the first to use dissolved talc for fire
protection, and they wore fireproof
clothing, to which Gunpowder cartridges
were attached.
45. In 1285, The largest hospital of the Middle Ages and
pre-modern era was built in Cairo, Egypt, by
Sultan Qalaun al-Mansur. Treatment was given for
free to patients of all backgrounds, regardless of
gender, ethnicity or income.
46. • In 1300, when the Black
Death bubonic plague
reached al-Andalus, Ibn
Khatima discovered that
infectious diseases are
caused by microorganisms
which enter the human
body.
47. • In 1577, Taqi al-Din built the Istanbul
observatory of Taqi al-Din, the largest
astronomical observatory in its time,
with the patronage of the Ottoman
Sultan Murad III. He produced a zij
(titled Unbored Pearl) and
astronomical catalogues more
accurate than those of Tycho Brahe
and Nicolaus Copernicus. Taqi al-Din
was able to achieve this with his
invention of the "observational
clock", a mechanical astronomical
clock that can measure time in
seconds.
48. In 1720, the Ottoman dockyard architect
Ibrahim Efendi invented a submarine
called the tahtelbahir. The Ottoman
writer Seyyid Vehbi, in his Surname-iHumayun, compared this submarine to
an alligator.
49. • The sciences of the Arabic-Islamic world
underwent remarkable development during
the 8th to 13th centuries C.E., a flowering of
knowledge and intellect that later spread
throughout Europe and greatly influenced
both medical practice and education.
50. Muslims have had such a great
contribution to science that if it
weren’t for them neither the
Reneissance nor the Scientific
Revolution would have been possible.
Despite this, due to a concious act of
ignorance and neglect their names and
great inventions have been written
out of science and history books.
51. Fortunately, now in the 21st
century the West and the Muslims
are starting to rediscover this
golden age of Islamic Science and
many documentaries and books
are being produced on this subject.
52. Some of those documentaries are:
BBC- Science and Islam:The language of science
BBC- Science and Islam:The Empire of Reason
BBC- Science and Islam:The Power of Doubt
BBC- What the anciens did for us:The Islamic World
BBC-An Islamic History of Europe
Channel 4- When the Moors ruled in Europe
53. Some sites you can visit:
www.muslimheritage.com
www.1001inventions.com
www.wikipedia.org
-List of Muslim scientists
-List of inventions in medieval Islam
-Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam
-History of scientific method
-Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe
-Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world
-Medicine in medieval Islam
-Medieval Islamic sociology
-Arab Agricultural Revolution
-Islamic Golden Age
-Latin translations of the 12th century
-Astronomy in medieval Islam
