Science in a Golden Age - Optics: The True Nature of Light

Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English
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Published 2015-10-06
Playing a vital role in our everyday lives, technologies based on light are in use all around us. From art and science to modern technology, the study of light - and how behaves and interacts with matter has intrigued scientists for over a century. This year, 2015, marks the 1,000th anniversary of the Kitab al-Manazir (The Book of Optics), a seven-volume treatise written by the Iraqi scientist Ibn al-Haytham - a pioneering thinker who's views have been crucial to our understanding of how the universe came into existence. Shaping our understanding of vision, optics and light, Ibn al-Haytham interrogated theories of light put forward by the Greeks - men like Plato and Euclid who argued that the way we see objects is by shining light out of our eyes onto them. Ibn al-Haytham argued instead, and correctly, that the way we see is by light entering our eyes from outside either reflecting off objects or directly from luminous bodies like candles or the sun. His methodology of investigation, in which he combined theory and experiments, were also remarkable for their emphasis on proof and evidence. In the first episode of Science in the Golden Age, theoretical physicist, Jim al-Khalili, looks at state-of-the-art applications of optics and traces the science of light back to the medieval Islamic world. Al-Khalili recreates Ibn al-Haytham's famous 'camera obscura' experiment with stunning results and also uncovers the work of Ibn Sahl, a mathematician and physicist associated with the Abbasid court of Baghdad. According to a recently discovered manuscript, he correctly described "Snell's law of refraction" centuries before Dutch astronomer Willebrord Snellius was even born. We also look at the work of Ibn Mu'adh, who brought together knowledge of optics and geometry in order to estimate the height of the atmosphere.
All Comments (21)
  • @Addakhel
    Great program, hope this will inspire Muslims to get back of being the leaders in science again! Keep it up Al Jazeera.
  • @SmellMyKKPP
    Sad that the large majority of people in the West still believe the enlightment was unique and came straight after the Greek with nothing in between.
  • @Max-ii3pj
    When I was young I saw some of what you see here now in reality, my mom used to tell us to sleep at noon in a room because its too sunny and hot outside and that is not good for health, the room had a window facing the street, so when we turn off the lights and put the curtains on the window, we could see the images of the people walking outside on the inner wall of our room but upside down and moving to the opposite direction, at that time I didn't know anything about science.
  • @Naedyn
    What a shame... how many brilliant minds have missed the opportunity to contribute to science because of the ego of primitive men in power.
  • @Mehmed-The-Conqueror-1453
    Over the past 1400 years Muslim intellects have made substantial contributions in the areas of physics, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, philosophy and geography. At no time was this more evident than in the Middle Ages, a period commonly referred to as the “Golden Age of Islam”. It produced such luminaries as Jabir ibn Hayyan (considered the father of early chemistry), al-Khwarizmi (one of the fathers of algebra), al-Zahrawi (a father of surgery), al-Razi (father of pediatrics), Ibn Sina (one of the greatest medical scholars in history), Jabir ibn Aflah (promoter of trigonometry in Europe), Ibn Rushd (reviver of Aristotle) and Ibn Khaldun (a father of modern sociology, historiography, demography and economics) to name only a few. Their contributions ultimately helped to usher in the European Renaissance. This influence on Western civilization is recognized in a mural painted in the 1890s on the ceiling of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Islam is included along with England, France, America, Greece, Rome and others in a depiction of the “Evolution of Civilization”.
  • @granada1493
    This deserves millions more views, sad it's onlyu at 31,000. Maybe AlJazeera can allow some people (me included) to dub this in other languages?
  • @MuhammadalSayf1
    Just, I'm addicted to Jim al-Khalili's lectures and documentaries.
  • @gauravverma6608
    beautiful video sir i owe you for such a great work you are doing for science and humanity
  • @LONE_WOLF_GANG
    We( Muslims) are very much aware that our golden age is behind,and that our civilization went to sleep the last few centuries but that's how the world works sometimes,we just relay the torch to the next person to lead humanity,and care for its existence. We all get a turn to be world leaders it just happens in different eras!! Also,when you're not in the lead, your society will start the decay( I.e DETROIT) and that's the normal cycle.
  • @skin__care
    Thanks for sharing really informational
  • @RandomisedClips
    Mankinds knowledge is a continuous river of re-discovery 👌
  • @bashirabdi3799
    With help of Alllah Islam is torch bearer of Knowledge both day judgement and today but I agree some human can develop on that
  • @cakadokey
    WOW I can watch this in the U.S ! Let's see If I can watch the next video.
  • @zeitfieldunite4488
    Approximately 6:00 onwards reminded me of my first job in Swindon after Middlesex Polytechnic in London. Citec Meggit electronic components, we laser resistance trimmed electronic circuits , I went to a Chicago laser trimming course somewhere in Kent, the ESI (European ) laser was used for hybrid circuits.