BBC Radio 4 are currently in the middle of a three-part series presented by Ehsan Masood called Islam and Science.
See more about the series and listen again here.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Science and Islam - reviewed in the New Scientist
'A fascinating and clearly written book' - see the full review here.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Science and Islam in The Times
Ehsan Masood's Science and Islam was mentioned by Ziauddin Sardar in The Times at the weekend:
'Science and Islam: A History (Icon Books) gives a viable answer to this question. Masood's eminently readable survey of science in Islam fills many gaps in [Jonathan Lyons'] The House of Wisdom by providing the social and political context in which discoveries took place. It ends with a string of observations. Science in Muslim cultures, Masood suggests, lacked a social and institutional base. Scientists did not work in universities but in or near palaces attached to wealthy patrons; and much research did not qualify for funding from charitable and social sources such as waqfs, the pious foundations. Funding depended on individual rulers and scientific discovery suffered when rulers died or had other worries.'
See the full piece here.
'Science and Islam: A History (Icon Books) gives a viable answer to this question. Masood's eminently readable survey of science in Islam fills many gaps in [Jonathan Lyons'] The House of Wisdom by providing the social and political context in which discoveries took place. It ends with a string of observations. Science in Muslim cultures, Masood suggests, lacked a social and institutional base. Scientists did not work in universities but in or near palaces attached to wealthy patrons; and much research did not qualify for funding from charitable and social sources such as waqfs, the pious foundations. Funding depended on individual rulers and scientific discovery suffered when rulers died or had other worries.'
See the full piece here.
Thursday, 8 January 2009
Ehsan Masood - talking at Blackwell's, Oxford on Wednesday 28th January
Ehsan Masood will be talking about his new book, 'Science and Islam', with Ziauddin Sardar, on Wednesday 28th January 2009 at Blackwell Bookshop, 48-51 Broad Street, Oxford.
'Science and Islam' - the official tie-in with the BBC TV series of the same name - tells the amazing story of one of history's most misunderstood yet rich and fertile periods in science. An enlightening, enthralling and in-depth exploration, it charts a religious empire's scientific heyday, its intellectual demise and the numerous debates that now surround it. Between the 8th and 14th centuries, scholars and researchers working in Islamic territories from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and philosophy to new heights. They developed clocks and invented cameras, discovered how blood circulates, created algebra, and even found time to debate the origins of life. Science journalist Ehsan Masood describes the circumstances which created this revolution in scientific discovery, the places where they occurred, as well as the scientists themselves and their awe-inspiring achievements. He unpacks the debates between scientists, philosophers and theologians on the nature of physical reality and the limits of human reason, and explores the many reasons for the eventual decline of advanced science and learning in the Arabic-speaking world.
This is a free event, but entrants must obtain a ticket. For further information or to obtain tickets, please visit our Customer Service Department on the Second Floor. Alternatively, telephone 01865 333623.
'Science and Islam' - the official tie-in with the BBC TV series of the same name - tells the amazing story of one of history's most misunderstood yet rich and fertile periods in science. An enlightening, enthralling and in-depth exploration, it charts a religious empire's scientific heyday, its intellectual demise and the numerous debates that now surround it. Between the 8th and 14th centuries, scholars and researchers working in Islamic territories from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and philosophy to new heights. They developed clocks and invented cameras, discovered how blood circulates, created algebra, and even found time to debate the origins of life. Science journalist Ehsan Masood describes the circumstances which created this revolution in scientific discovery, the places where they occurred, as well as the scientists themselves and their awe-inspiring achievements. He unpacks the debates between scientists, philosophers and theologians on the nature of physical reality and the limits of human reason, and explores the many reasons for the eventual decline of advanced science and learning in the Arabic-speaking world.
This is a free event, but entrants must obtain a ticket. For further information or to obtain tickets, please visit our Customer Service Department on the Second Floor. Alternatively, telephone 01865 333623.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Science and Islam - sample
Click on the image below to read a the opening sections of Ehsan Masood's Science and Islam: A History
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Viewing figures
The first episode of BBC 4's Science and Islam programme - which Ehsan Masood's book is the official tie-in - received almost half a million viewers last night.
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