加载中…
个人资料
  • 博客等级:
  • 博客积分:
  • 博客访问:
  • 关注人气:
  • 获赠金笔:0支
  • 赠出金笔:0支
  • 荣誉徽章:
正文 字体大小:

伊斯兰的黄金时代如何塑造现代世界

(2012-09-27 15:04:01)
标签:

加扎利

华盛顿

金斯利

穆斯林

复制品

杂谈

分类: 社会与生活
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/441486/2011_Week_3/07202011_1001Inventions9_300.jpg

演员本‧金斯利(Ben Kingsley)在“1001项发明”展为参观者放映的介绍片中,扮演13世纪的工程师兼发明家加扎利。

Lauren Monsen | Staff Writer | 2012.09.25
 

 

华盛顿--相机、咖啡、牙刷和香水有什么共同点?答案是,它们都可以追溯到穆斯林文明的黄金时代。在这个时期,科学家和发明者可以在知识自由的环境下工作,科学出现突破性进展。

8月3日,“1001项发明:探索穆斯林文明的黄金时代”(1001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization)巡回展在华盛顿的国家地理博物馆(National Geographic Museum)开幕,上述创新正是该展览的一部份。“1001项发明”将展至2013年2月3日,呈现了从7世纪到17世纪伊斯兰世界的科学和技术是如何欣欣向荣地不断发展的。

伊斯兰文化从西班牙南部扩及中国,并且汇集了各种信仰的学者,他们以埃及人、希腊人和罗马人积累的知识为基础,做出许多突破,为后来的文艺复兴铺平了道路。2011年5月27日至2012年3月,这项展览曾在加州科学中心(California Science Center)展出。加州科学中心负责展览策划的资深副总裁黛安‧佩尔洛夫(Diane Perlov)表示,这项展览“展示了现代科学具有多种文化的根源”,并且彰显了西方和非西方社会之间深厚的纽带。

该展览最初在伦敦揭幕,然后移至伊斯坦布尔、纽约和洛杉矶,目前在华盛顿展出,各类展品介绍了工程、航海、建筑、数学和医学领域取得的成果,以及如今成为家庭普及用品的伊斯兰发明成果。

该展览的策展人萨林姆‧哈萨林(Salim al-Hassani)是英国曼彻斯特大学(University of Manchester)的荣誉教授,他强调了“在中世纪取得的科学和文化成就被人们所遗忘的”现象,而“1001项发明”正是着眼于纠正这种现象。

参观者可以研究一座13世纪象钟的高5米的复制品,象钟以其底座的大象雕刻而得名,是由来自今日土耳其南部的机械工程师加扎利(al-Jazari)设计的。该钟结合了不同文化的象征,例如中国的龙、埃及的凤,以及头戴阿拉伯头巾的木制机械人。

佩尔洛夫表示,展览的互动展区包括一个电脑游戏,“让你行经一条古代贸易路线,决定要在哪个市场交易哪些物品。参观者不只学到货品和服务如何在世界流通,也能了解到信息和知识如何以这种方式传播。”

 

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/441486/2011_Week_3/07202011_1001Inventions10_300.jpg

这是加扎利著名的象钟的复制品, 可以计时。象钟通过精密的内部机械来计时,还有戴头巾的机械人同步运动。

此外,参观者还可以“操纵影像走进现代世界的一间屋子,找出可以追溯到早期穆斯林文明时代的所有物品。当他们找到诸如香水、肥皂、牙刷、化妆品和咖啡的物品时,铃声就会响起。”

参观者还能了解伊斯兰世界传统文明的开创者,例如公元859年在摩洛哥非斯(Fez)创办第一所现代大学(多种学科、多位教员,男女兼收)的法蒂玛·菲赫利公主(Fatima al-Fihri)。另一位创新者是965年出生的埃及物理学家海桑(Alhazen),他为现代光学奠定了根基。海桑还发明了暗箱(camera obscura),也就是现代相机的前身。

来自安达卢西亚(Andalusian)的医生扎哈拉维(al-Zahrawi,936–1013年)是第一位正规使用肠缝线(确实是由羊肠做成的)的外科医生。扎哈拉维开发出精密的外科器械,包括解剖刀、注射器、镊子和手术针。哈萨林说,虽然如今用来制作类似器械的材料远比早期外科医生使用的材料更精良,但是“器械的设计和实用性却没有改变。”

他指出:“此次展览最重要的宗旨之一,就是展现人类共享的科学传承。我们希望[1001项发明]能够启发各种背景的孩童来探索科学和技术专业。”

哈萨林解释说:“今天我们住在同一个地球村,各大洲共同分享科学和观念,这种现象在过去也曾经发生过。许多不同信仰及没有信仰的男女在穆斯林文明中共同努力,增进我们对于世界的理解。”

请点击1001项发明网站了解这次展览的详情。



Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/chinese/article/2012/09/20120925136526.html#ixzz27eRpAxyC

How Islam’s Golden Age Shaped the Modern World

By Lauren Monsen | Staff Writer | 24 September 2012
http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/441486/2011_Week_3/07202011_1001Inventions9_300.jpg

Actor Ben Kingsley, in the role of 13th-century engineer and inventor al-Jazari, appears in a short film that greets visitors to the 1001 Inventions exhibition.

 

Washington — What do cameras, coffee, toothbrushes and perfume have in common? All of them trace their origins to the Golden Age of Muslim civilization, an era of scientific breakthroughs made possible because scientists and inventors were able to work in an environment of intellectual freedom.

Cameras and other widely used items are just a few of the innovations showcased by 1001 Inventions: Discover the Golden Age of Muslim Civilization, a traveling exhibition that opened August 3 at the National Geographic Museum in Washington. Running until February 3, 2013, 1001 Inventions reveals how science and technology flourished in the Islamic world during a period that stretched from the seventh to the 17th century.

Islamic culture reached from southern Spain to China and drew on scholars of many faiths who built on the knowledge of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans to make breakthroughs that paved the way for the Renaissance. According to Diane Perlov, senior vice president of exhibit development at the California Science Center, where the exhibition ran from May 27, 2011, through March 2012, 1001 Inventions “conveys the multicultural roots of modern science” and demonstrates strong links between Western and non-Western societies.

The show, which debuted in London and moved to Istanbul, New York and Los Angeles before opening in Washington, explores advances in engineering, navigation, architecture, mathematics and medicine, along with items of Islamic provenance now commonly found in households everywhere.

Exhibition curator Salim al-Hassani, professor emeritus at the University of Manchester in Great Britain, stressed the “historical amnesia about the scientific and cultural advancement that took place during the Middle Ages,” which 1001 Inventions aims to correct.

Visitors can study a 5-meter-high working replica of the 13th-century Elephant Clock, named for the carved elephant that forms its base. Designed by a mechanical engineer called al-Jazari, who was from an area that is now southern Turkey, the cross-cultural emblem features Chinese dragons, an Egyptian phoenix and wooden robots wearing Arab turbans.

 

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/america/441486/2011_Week_3/07202011_1001Inventions10_300.jpg

A working replica of al-Jazari's famed Elephant Clock, which keeps accurate time via elaborate internal mechanisms, features turbaned robots with synchronized movements.

The exhibition’s interactive displays include a computer game “where you travel an ancient trade route making decisions about which items to exchange in which markets,” said Perlov. “Guests learn how not only goods and services traveled throughout the world, but how information and knowledge spread this way.”

In addition, visitors can “direct a figure to walk through a modern house and find all the items that trace their roots back” to early Muslim civilization, she said. “A bell rings when they find each item such as perfume, soap, toothbrush, cosmetics and coffee.”

Visitors learn about innovators from the classical Islamic world, such as Princess Fatima al-Fihri, who founded the first modern (multi-subject, multi-faculty, open to men and women) university in 859, located in Fez, Morocco. Another innovator — the Egyptian physicist Alhazen, born in 965 — laid the foundation for the modern understanding of optics. Alhazen also invented the camera obscura, a precursor to the modern camera.

The Andalusian physician al-Zahrawi (936–1013) was the first surgeon to systematically use catgut sutures (actually derived from sheep intestines). Al-Zahrawi developed sophisticated surgical instruments, including scalpels, syringes, forceps and surgical needles. Although similar instruments are now created from materials that far surpass those available to early surgeons, “the design and practicality of the tools remain the same,” said al-Hassani.

“One of the most important messages from this exhibition is about the shared scientific heritage of humanity,” he said. “We hope that [1001 Inventions] will inspire children of all backgrounds to explore careers in science and technology.

“Today, we live in a global age, with science and ideas shared across continents, and this occurred in the past, as well,” al-Hassani explained. “Men and women of many different faiths — and none — worked together within Muslim civilization in order to advance our understanding of the world.”

To learn more about the exhibition, visit the 1001 Inventions website.



Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2011/07/20110721150850nerual3.124636e-02.html#ixzz27eRumMRJ

0

阅读 收藏 喜欢 打印举报/Report
  

新浪BLOG意见反馈留言板 欢迎批评指正

新浪简介 | About Sina | 广告服务 | 联系我们 | 招聘信息 | 网站律师 | SINA English | 产品答疑

新浪公司 版权所有