Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science

(Paperback)

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Description

One of Britain's best-loved scientists on the incredible story of Islamic science For over 700 years the international language of science was Arabic. In Pathfinders, Jim al-Khalili celebrates the forgotten, inspiring pioneers who helped shape our understanding of the world during the golden age of Arabic science, including Iraqi physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who practised the modern scientific method over half a century before Bacon; al-Khwarizmi, the greatest mathematician of the medieval world; and Abu Rayhan al-Biruni, a Persian polymath to rival Leonardo da Vinci.

Reviews

Brings alive the bubbling invention and delighted curiosity of the Islamic world ... his command of Arabic mathematical physics invests his story with sympathy as well as authority -- Tim Radford * Guardian *
A fascinating and user-friendly guide to this whole scientific movement -- Noel Malcolm * Seven, Sunday Telegraph *
Jim Al-Khalili has a passion for bringing to a wider audience not just the facts of science but its history ... Just as the legacy of Copernicus and Darwin belongs to all of us, so does that of Ibn Sina and Ibn al-Haytham. To think otherwise, as this book so powerfully reveals, is to do disservice to the tradition to which they belong -- Kenan Malik * Independent *
Spry, informative and timely ... Al-Khalili takes the reader through a brisk survey of the highlights of the period -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday *
A fascinating introduction to a neglected area. His approachable style and ability to distil extensive knowledge into simple narrative makes Pathfinders an absorbing read -- Siobhan Murphy * Metro *
Enjoyable and informative ... provides ample evidence for the compatibility of Islam and science -- Sameer Rahim * Daily Telegraph *
He has brought a great story out of the shadows * Literary Review *
This captivating book is a timely reminder of the debt owed by the West to the intellectual achievements of Arab, Persian and Muslim scholars * The Times *

Author Bio

Professor Jim Al-Khalili, OBE FRS, is a physicist, author and broadcaster based at the University of Surrey. He received his PhD in theoretical nuclear physics in 1989 and has published over a hundred research papers on quantum physics. His many popular science books have been translated into twenty-six languages. He is a recipient of the Royal Michael Faraday medal and the Institute of Physics Kelvin Medal. In 2016 he received the inaugural Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. He lives in Southsea, Hampshire, with his wife Julie.