The means to facilitating scientific advances have always been dictated by culture, political will, and economic wealth. What is only now becoming clear (to many in the West) is that during the dark ages of medieval Europe, incredible scientific advances were made in the Muslim world. Geniuses in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Cordoba took on the scholarly works of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, India, and China, developing what we would call “modern” science. New disciplines emerged – algebra, trigonometry, and chemistry as well as major advances in medicine, astronomy, engineering, and agriculture. Arabic texts replaced Greek as the fonts of wisdom, helping to shape the scientific revolution of the Renaissance. What the medieval scientists of the Muslim world articulated so brilliantly is that science is universal, the common language of the human race. The 1001 Inventions exhibition at London’s Science Museum tells some of the stories of this forgotten age. Here are my top few exhibits . . .

The camera obscura

The greatest scientist of the medieval world was a 10th-century Arab by the name of Ibn al-Haytham. Among his many contributions to optics was the first correct explanation of how vision works. He used the Chinese invention of the camera obscura (or pinhole camera) to show how light travels in straight lines from the object to form an inverted image on the retina.

Al-Idrisi’s world map

This three-metre reproduction of the famous 12th-century map by the Andalusian cartographer, Al-Idrisi (1100-1166), was produced in Sicily and is regarded as the most elaborate and complete description of the world made in medieval times. It was used extensively by travelers for several centuries and contained detailed descriptions of the Christian North as well as the Islamic world, Africa, and the Far East.

Al-Zahrawi’s surgical instruments

This array of weird and wonderful devices shows the sort of instruments being used by the 10th-century surgeon al-Zahrawi, who practiced in Cordoba. His work was hugely influential in Europe and many of his instruments are still in use today. Among his best-known inventions were the syringe, the forceps, the surgical hook and needle, the bone saw, and the lithotomy scalpel.

Ibn Firnas’ flying contraption

Abbas Ibn Firnas was a legendary ninth-century inventor and the Da Vinci of the Islamic world. He is honored on Arabic postage stamps and has a crater on the moon named after him. He made his famous attempt at controlled flight when aged 65, he built a rudimentary hang glider and launched

himself from the side of a mountain. Some accounts claim he remained airborne for several minutes before landing badly and hurting his back.

List of Islamic scholars described as fathers or founders of a field

The following is a list of internationally recognized Muslim scholars of medieval Islamic civilization who have been described as the father or the founder of a field by some modern scholars:

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi: Father of Modern Surgery and the Father of Operative Surgery.

Ibn al-Nafis: Father of Circulatory Physiology and Anatomy.

Abbas ibn Firnas: Father of Medieval Aviation.

Jabir ibn Hayyan: Father of Chemistry

Ibn Khaldun: Father of Sociology, Historiography, and Modern Economics. He is best known for his Muqaddimah.

Ibn Sina: Widely regarded as the Father of Early Modern Medicine as well as the Father of Clinical Pharmacology. His most famous work is the Canon of Medicine.

‘Ali ibn al-‘Abbas al-Majusi: Also known as Haly Abbas is called the Father of Anatomic Physiology. In addition, the section on dermatology in his Kamil as-Sina’ah at-Tibbiyah (Royal book-Liber Regius) has one scholar to regard him as the Father of Arabic Dermatology.

Al-Biruni: Father of Indology, Father of Comparative Religion, and Father of Geodesy for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India under Muslim rule. Georg Morgenstierne regarded him as the ” founder of comparative studies in human culture.” Al-Biruni is also known as the Father of Islamic Pharmacy.

Al-Khwarizmi: Most renowned as the Father of Algebra Al-Khwarizmi had such a huge influence on the field of mathematics that it is attributed to him the eponymous word ‘algorithm’ as well as ‘algebra’.

Ibn Hazm: Father of Comparative Religion and “honored in the West as that of the founder of the science of comparative religion.”Alfred Guillaume refers to him as the composer of “the first systematic higher critical study of the Old and New Testaments.” However, William Montgomery Watt disputes the claim, stating that Ibn Hazm’s work was preceded by earlier works in Arabic and that “the aim was polemical and not descriptive.”

Al-Farabi: Regarded as the founder of Islamic Neoplatonism and by some as the Father of Logic in the Islamic World.

Muhammad al-Idrisi: Father of World Map

Averroes (Ibn Rushd) (1126-1198): Known the in West as The Commentator has been described by some as the Father of Rationalism and the Father of Free Thought in Western Europe. Ernest Renan called Averroes

The purpose of mentioning these names as Muslims is to still require inventors of new technology and beneficial knowled