While reading through The Telegraph, a Conservative British daily broadsheet, I came across a really interesting commentary by Jim Al-Khalili entitled Science: Islam’s forgotten geniuses (29 January 2008) . The writer suggested why we in the West should have more respect for the contributions of non Western scholarship of the Middle Ages. The article cited an example that perhaps should be better known.’Next year [says Al-Khalili], we will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin of Species, which revolutionised our understanding of biology. But what if Darwin was beaten to the punch? Approximately 1,000 years before the British naturalist published his theory of evolution, a scientist working in Baghdad was thinking along similar lines. In the Book of Animals, abu Uthman al-Jahith (781-869), an intellectual of East African descent, was the first to speculate on the influence of the environment on species. He wrote: “Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring.” There is no doubt that it qualifies as a theory of natural selection.’While this is undoubtedly an exciting and thought-provoking piece of information, a question that is sometimes raised but hardly ever addressed is: what else has African minds contributed to scientific and technological thought?Western scholars are becoming more open to the contributions of Islamic scholars to the development of science and technology including some of the Black ones. Others are starting to embrace the contributions of the Mesopotamians, Indians and Chinese to science and technology. But where is non-Muslim Africa in this discussion? Where is the African Diaspora in this discussion?African and African Diasporan science history is a subject that has had too little attention paid to it. Some important writers have ventured into the field; Professor Ivan Van Sertima, Professor Charles S. Finch III, Professor Cheikh Anta Diop, Dr Louis Haber, Dr Nnamdi Elleh and Mr Hunter Havelin Adams III. This work synthesises their findings and presents the data in an easy to digest, bite-size way.This lecture essay is one of four essays that introduce African and African Diasporan contributions to science and technology. The other three in the series concern early West Africa, early East Africa and African Diasporan contributions to science and technology.This ebook is a general introduction to the role played by the Ancient Egyptians in the origin and evolution of Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine and u0026 Surgery, Navigation and u0026 Cartography, Architecture, and other areas that are more controversial.

Ancient Egyptian Contributions to Science and Technology (Reklaw Education Lecture Series) PDF

The list of books you might like