Science and Islam. 2. The empire of reason.

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili looks at how Islamic scholars pioneered the Scientific Method. Al-Khalili visits his family in Tehran. One thousand years ago, the Islamic Empire was the largest in the World. Al-Khalili goes to the ruins of Rey / Ray in Tehran to get a sense of its scale. Traces of the ruling elite which instigated the Translation Movement are still visible in the Islamic World today. Al-Khalili visits the ruins of Cordoba in Spain; the largest city of its age then Egypt. Islamic scholars invested in understanding the Nile, creating a 'Nilometer' which demonstrated the relationship between rainfall and crop yield therefore giving the rulers an indication of the level of taxation. Al-Biruni was the first Islamic scholar to estimate the size of the World; here was an imperative to measure the size and shape of the known World as in Islam prayer must be in the direction of Mecca. Islamic scholars using the body of knowledge from Greek and Indian books, developed the atrolabe which meant that reliable measurements could be taken and these calculations together with trigonometry and algebra resulted in an accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth. After calculations, experimentation is key to discovery and trade from the Islamic Empire was an imperative to innovate. Craft and scholarship combined to make the Islamic Empire the centre for trade worldwide. Alchemy was considered a magical art, however, knowledge of alchemy led to the science of chemistry and the development of coin-making (using durable and malleable alloys). Chemists created soap and exported them to Northern Europe. In doing this alkalies were discovered and exploited. Glass was also manufactured on an industrial scale. Perfumers and chemists combined to understand and use distilling as a process. Chemists developed 'Greek fire' into a highly flammable oil which was used in warfare and achieved through meticulous classification and observation. An Islamic scholar, ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī classified substances on the basis of their properties. Scholar Rāzī, Aḥmad ibn Sahl synthesised two dominant scientific fields; mathematics and physics by developing the science of optics, 1020 AD. Dr Nader El-Bizri has studied al-Hayham's work. Other scholars not already noted who contributed to the programme are Simon Schaffer, George Saliba and Dr Amira Bennison.