From: Paul Zarembka (zarembka@BUFFALO.EDU)
Date: Sat Mar 11 2006 - 08:26:02 EST
For a change of pace, check out today's article from THE INDEPENDENT, "How Islamic inventors changed the world": http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece For example, "the technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it." Also, "Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas)." and, "the modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad." See also the link to http://www.1001inventions.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.viewSection&intSectionID=309 For example, "Long before Copernicus "Did you know that long before Copernicus astronomer Ibn Al-Shatir in the 13th century figure out that despite appearances the earth revolved around the sun. It remains controversial whether Copernicus was directly influenced by al-Shatir's work. The idea of the movement of the planets is attributed to Kepler and Copernicus while not crediting the contribution of Ibn Al-Shatir. The fact is though the maths by Ibn al-Shatir are identical to those of Copernicus." Paul Z. ************************************************************************ THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF 9-11-2001, forthcoming in April 2006 RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, Paul Zarembka, editor, Elsevier Science ********************* http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka
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