Al - Zahrawi - The Father of Modern Surgery

“Whatever I know, I owe solely to my assiduous reading of the books of the ancients, to my desire to understand them and to appropriate this science; then I have added the observation and experience of my whole life.”
(Abul-Qasim Khalaf Ibn Abbas al Zahrawi)

Qurtuba, Andalusia (Cordoba, Spain) 980CE

Rays of morning sunlight streamed over the rooftop canopy and struck an arched brown door embedded within a khaki stone wall. Standing in front, the master surgeon peeled an orange. He wore an ivory white thobe and matching turban and sported a neatly cropped black beard. Doctor Zahrawi grimaced as he swallowed the last sour orange segment.

Satisfied by the invisible benefits of the sun, he turned and faced the arched door to his medical clinic; the door creaked as he entered to start a new day.

Lagari Hasan Celebi – The First Rocketeer

"I have learned to use the word 'impossible' with the greatest caution."

(Wernher von Braun - Rocket Pioneer) 

Preparation Day

Istanbul, Turkey, 1633

The water lapped against the docks of Sarayburnu as the last glimmer of light disappeared over the horizon and left a reddish tint against the clouds. Lagari Hasan Celebi shifted his position to allow what remained of the fading light to shine on the odd looking flying machine; a cold metallic object that bore no resemblance to any bird. He planned to use this contraption to launch himself into the sky and into history.

The World's First Fountain Pen

"Seek knowledge even if it means going to China"

(Prophet Muhummad (SAW))

A candle on the large Lotus wood desk flickered in the dimly lit room. The shadow of a man hunched over his desk cast against library on the wall behind him. Weathered books authored by Khwarizimi, Ptolemy, Battani, Farghani, Aristotle and Kindi; lay stacked side by side, covering a broad range of topics that interested the Sultan. An educated man, the Sultan wrote extensively from royal decrees to his thoughts about the philosophical questions of the day. But today... he was frustrated! 

Little drops of ink splattered across his desk as he dipped his quill pen in the nearby ink bottle. Blue blotches from the endless writing stained his thobe and hands. The paper on which he wrote was smudged with random blue marks, like the childish art work of a two year old toddler. It made a mockery of his nuanced philosophical argument. He thought angrily “this is not the work of a powerful ruler!”

Which Calendar is More Accurate - The Pope's or Omar Khayyam's?

Every culture and region has its own calendar. Since the European Renaissance the modern world revolves around the Gregorian calendar but is there another calendar that is more accurate?

Accuracy of the Gregorian Calendar

The Gregorian calendar was created in 1582 based on the refinement of the Justinan calendar. The Justinian calendar was 11 minutes longer than the actual year (every 400 years the calendar was off by 3 days) and the Gregorian calendar set out to fix this “drift”.

The Gregorian calendar added a leap year ever 4 years except the centurial years which could be a leap year if it was divisible by 400. With this mathematical foot work, the European mathematicians created a calendar that was 10.8 seconds longer than the actual year (every 8000 years the Gregorian calendar would be off by 1 day).

But is there another calendar more accurate than the Gregorian calendar?

Muslims Invented Algebra & Created the Modern Number System

We have all heard of the various famous Greek mathematicians such as Pythagoras (Pythagorean Theorem), Euclid (Euclidean Geometry) or Archimedes who are giants in their field, but who has heard of the name Al-Khwarizmi, the master mathematician from the Muslim world?