Author(s): Ehsan Masood

Self

Science and Islam - the official tie-in with the BBC TV series of the same name - tells the amazing story of one of history's most misunderstood yet rich and fertile periods in science. An enlightening, enthralling and in-depth exploration, it charts a religious empire's scientific heyday, its intellectual demise and the numerous debates that now surround it. Between the 8th and 14th centuries, scholars and researchers working in Islamic territories from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and philosophy to new heights. They developed clocks and invented cameras, discovered how blood circulates, created algebra, and even found time to debate the origins of life. Science journalist Ehsan Masood describes the circumstances which created this revolution in scientific discovery, the places where they occurred, as well as the scientists themselves and their awe-inspiring achievements.