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Date: Mar 15, 2007
ISLAMIC SCIENCE AND THE EUROPEAN RENAISSANCE
Dr. George Saliba of Columbia U. traces how Arabic science influenced later European thought
Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY - Was Polish astronomer and mathematician Nicolaus Copernicus influenced by earlier Islamic scientists? Did Arab scientists borrow scientific ideas from the Greeks as commonly thought or were their scientific principles laid out far earlier?
Dr. George Saliba, professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Department of Middle East and Asian Studies at Columbia University and one of the world's foremost historians of astronomy, will discuss the development of scientific ideas and the influences of Greek, Persian and Arabic scientific thought in his talk on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 from 12:45-2:10 p.m. in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald A. Axinn Library, south campus. A reception will follow in the parlor of Hofstra Hall.
Sponsored by the Hofstra Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program and the Hofstra Muslim Students Association, the program is free and open to the public. For more information call 516-463-5590.
The Islamic scientific tradition has often been traced to the appropriation of ideas from other ancient civilizations, the Greeks in particular. In this forthcoming book, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance (MIT Press, April, 2007), Dr. Saliba argues that, contrary to the generally accepted view, the foundations of Islamic scientific thought were laid well before Greek sources were formally translated into Arabic in the ninth century. He argues further that there was an organic relationship between the Islamic scientific thought that developed in later centuries and the science that came into being in Europe during the Renaissance.
Using astronomy as a template for understanding the progress of science in Islamic civilization, Dr. Saliba demonstrates the originality of Islamic scientific thought, details innovations made by the Islamic astronomers from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and offers evidence that Copernicus could have known of and drawn on their work.
Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students find their edge to succeed in more than 140 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, and a School of Law.
Dr. George Saliba, professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Department of Middle East and Asian Studies at Columbia University and one of the world's foremost historians of astronomy, will discuss the development of scientific ideas and the influences of Greek, Persian and Arabic scientific thought in his talk on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 from 12:45-2:10 p.m. in the Leo A. Guthart Cultural Center Theater, Joan and Donald A. Axinn Library, south campus. A reception will follow in the parlor of Hofstra Hall.
Sponsored by the Hofstra Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program and the Hofstra Muslim Students Association, the program is free and open to the public. For more information call 516-463-5590.
The Islamic scientific tradition has often been traced to the appropriation of ideas from other ancient civilizations, the Greeks in particular. In this forthcoming book, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance (MIT Press, April, 2007), Dr. Saliba argues that, contrary to the generally accepted view, the foundations of Islamic scientific thought were laid well before Greek sources were formally translated into Arabic in the ninth century. He argues further that there was an organic relationship between the Islamic scientific thought that developed in later centuries and the science that came into being in Europe during the Renaissance.
Using astronomy as a template for understanding the progress of science in Islamic civilization, Dr. Saliba demonstrates the originality of Islamic scientific thought, details innovations made by the Islamic astronomers from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries and offers evidence that Copernicus could have known of and drawn on their work.
Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students find their edge to succeed in more than 140 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, and a School of Law.
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