Roger Bacon – Medieval science
Roger Bacon's diagram of a human eye When did Roger Bacon live? Roger Bacon was born in England maybe about 1210 AD. It was late in the reign of King John. (That's the one [...]
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08, 2017
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07, 2017
Sine waves – trigonometry – math
Sine wave In order to save energy, many, many things in nature move in a kind of repeated pattern we call a sine wave: water waves, sound waves, light waves, [...]
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07, 2017
Medieval Islamic science
Medieval Islamic science: Al Tusi's diagram of linear motion from circular motion Indian and African science In the Early Middle Ages, before the formation of the Islamic Empire, Buddhists ran the world's biggest [...]
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07, 2017
Ibn al-Haytham – Medieval Islamic science
Diagram of an eye, by Ibn al-Haytham (ca. 1000 AD) Who was ibn al-Haytham? Ibn al-Haytham was born about 965 AD in Basra, near the Persian Gulf (modern Iraq), and when he grew [...]
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07, 2017
Medieval Islamic astronomy
Islamic astronomers taking observations West Asian astronomy before Islam West Asian astronomers had been world leaders in astronomy for thousands of years before the Islamic conquests in the 600s AD. In the last centuries BC, [...]
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07, 2017
al Tabari – Medieval Islamic medicine
al Tabari's homeland in Tabiristan Where did al Tabari come from? Al Tabari was from a Christian family in the Abbasid Empire, near the Caspian Sea (modern Iran). His father, Sahl, was himself [...]
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07, 2017
Who is Lakshmi? Hindu god – India
Lakshmi (Sanchi Stupa, central India, 200s BC) What is she the god of? Lakshmi was (and is) a Hindu god of light, wealth, good luck and success. Her name comes from the Sanskrit word laks, [...]
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07, 2017
Diwali – the Festival of Lights – Hinduism – India
Flowers and Diwali lamps - the Diwali festival What does "Diwali" mean? Diwali is a Sanskrit word originally meaning "a row of lights". "Dipa" is the Sanskrit word for "light". Diwali [...]
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07, 2017
Who was Euclid? History of Geometry
An Egyptian papyrus from about 100 AD which is a piece of one of Euclid's books Euclid's life and background Nobody knows much about Euclid's life anymore - it is [...]
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07, 2017
Ancient Greek astronomy
Greek astronomy: Eclipse of the sun Astronomy before the Greeks The art of astronomy was already very advanced before the Greeks began to interest themselves in the stars. The Egyptians and especially [...]
