1001 Inventions at LA Science Center: Islamic Science in Golden Age plus Arabia 3D

Film, Movies, Middle East & North Africa, Museums, Saudi Arabia, Science Strikes Back, Travel | Sandra | July 28, 2011 at 15:31

1001 Alchemist tents

The interactive exhibit at the LA Science Center is definitely worth checking out. Geared to kids, as most of the Science Center is, there is something there for all of us children at heart. The achievements of the Islamic World during the time of the European Dark Ages are impressive. Too often we think of the Arab-speaking world as the repository of Greek and Latin writings, just waiting for the Renaissance to happen. Not so! The scientists of the Islamic world were busy with original research that laid the foundation for flight, sea exploration, time clocks, medical treatment and even the design element of the Gothic arch used throughout Europe in cathedrals.

Pavilion focusing on Arabic mathematics which includes the invention of algebra.

Elephant clock invented by al-Jazari late 12th c.

Hezarfen Ahmat Celebi made a flight of almost 1.5 km in 1638

Al-Idrisi's World Map was drawn in the 12th c, long before Marco Polo or Columbus.

The Water Wheel and Windmills are just two of the engineering accomplishments of the Islamic scientist.

This rose medallion shape was used as a pattern for the stained glass windows of European cathedrals.

The Islamic arch morphed into the Gothic arch so prevalent in Middle Age Cathedral construction.

The Silk Road Interactive Game

Medical Pavillion

Zheng He was a Muslim Chinese explorer from the early 15th c. who some say sailed as far as the Americas 50 years before Columbus.

Trade Links

Islamic and Jewish scholars translated the great works of the Greeks into Arabic and preserved them in libraries across the Islamic world from Baghdad to Cordoba.

An arch as might be found in the walls of any Islamic city of the Golden Age.

Ben Kingsley leads the exploration of 1001 Inventions of the Islamic World

Ptolemy's great treatise with 1025 stars was translated into Arabic as the Almagest. Many of the stars get their names from that book.

1001 Inventions T-shirt and books for sale in gift shop

And when you’ve finished the 1001 Inventions exhibit, you can visit the IMAX theatre for Arabia 3D with amazing footage of Saudi Arabia. It’s a bit of a propaganda film showing a great country with a lot of promise – if you are a man. The writer tries to gloss over women issues by claiming that more than half of Saudi Arabia’s university students are women – but fails to add that they are not allowed to drive. Pretty pictures though and interesting history of the Nabateans who built in live rock (Petra) and made their fortune fromÂ frankincense, the favored incense used in the thousands of pagan temples of the Roman period.