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SUMMARY:On the Shoulders of Eastern Giants: the forgotten contribution of 
 the medieval physicists - Prof Jim Al-Khalili\, University of Surrey
DTSTART:20110202T200000Z
DTEND:20110202T210000Z
UID:TALK29404@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Peter Humphreys
DESCRIPTION:We learn at school that Isaac Newton is the father of modern o
 ptics\, that Copernicus heralded the birth of astronomy\, and that it is S
 nell’s law of refraction. But what is the debt these men owe to the phys
 icists and astronomers of the medieval Islamic Empire? Men such as ibn al-
 Haytham\, the greatest physicist in the two thousand year span between Arc
 himedes and Newton\, and whose Book of Optics was just as influential as N
 ewton’s seven centuries later\; or Avicenna and Biruni the Persian polym
 aths who argued over such topics as why ice floats and whether parallel un
 iverses exist\; or Ibn Sahl who came up with the correct law of refraction
  many centuries before Snell\; or the astronomers al-Tusi and ibn al-Shati
 r\, without whom Copernicus would not have been able to formulate his heli
 ocentric model of the solar system. In this lecture Jim Al-Khalili will re
 count these characters and more from his new book on the subject.\n\nAfter
  the talk\, the speaker will sign copies of his new book 'Pathfinders: The
  Golden Age of Arabic Science'.\n\n*Free for everyone.*
LOCATION:Bristol-Myers Squibb Lecture Theatre\, Department of Chemistry
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