From
coffee to cheques and the three-course
meal, the Muslim world has given
us many innovations that we take
for granted in daily life. As a
new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely
nominates 20 of the most influential-
and identifies the men of genius
behind them Published: 11 March
2006
| 11)
Windmill |
| |
The
windmill was invented
in 634 for a Persian caliph
and was used to grind
corn and draw up water
for irrigation. In
the vast deserts of Arabia,
when the seasonal streams
ran dry, the only source
of power was the wind
which blew steadily from
one direction for months.
Mills had six or 12 sails
covered in fabric or palm
leaves. It was 500
years before the first
windmill was seen in Europe.
|
|
| 12)
Vaccination |
| |
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. |
|
| 13)
Fountain Pen |
| |
The
fountain pen was invented
for the Sultan of Egypt
in 953 after he demanded
a pen which would not
stain his hands or clothes.
It held ink in a reservoir
and, as with modern pens,
fed ink to the nib by
a combination of gravity
and capillary action. |
|
| 14)
Numerical Numbering |
| |
The
system of numbering in
use all round the world
is probably Indian in
origin but the style of
the numerals is Arabic
and first appears in print
in the work of the Muslim
mathematicians al-Khwarizmi
and al-Kindi around 825.
Algebra was named after
al-Khwarizmi's book, Al-Jabr
wa-al-Muqabilah, much
of whose contents are
still in use. The work
of Muslim maths scholars
was imported into Europe
300 years later by the
Italian mathematician
Fibonacci. Algorithms
and much of the theory
of trigonometry came from
the Muslim world.
And Al-Kindi's discovery
of frequency analysis
rendered all the codes
of the ancient world soluble
and created the basis
of modern cryptology.
|
|
| 15)
Soup |
| |
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 - see No 4).
|
|
|
Provided
by: "Directory Submission 911"
