Before democracy paved the way for autonomous agencies to further the scientific pursuits, science was entirely at the disposal of the rulers, the elite and the kingmakers or influential noblemen in various royal courts of the world. It is owing to that very reason why medieval Europe was vehemently against science. Every major scientific discovery or accomplishment was going against the teachings of the church. Since then, science has been associated with religion, although there is nothing as science of Christians or Islamic science.

 

It is noted that the ancient Indian and Egyptian civilizations dating back to almost prehistoric times were hotbeds of scientific advancements. Later, when Europe witnessed a halt of scientific progress, it was the kingdoms across the Middle East and Saharan Africa that encouraged scientific advancements. Interestingly, contemporary Islamic nations often condemn science and resort to the archaic notions that had long been clarified. Through the ninth century to the sixteenth century, Islamic science made some substantial contribution to the world. Here are just five of those biggest contributions.

 

1. One of the most notable amalgamations of science and cultures is the elephant clock. Made by al-Jazari, the elephant clock was essentially a water clock. Using a unique system of timekeeping, the clock had a bucket filled with water placed inside an elephant. The clock itself featured the elephant representing Indian culture, a dragon representing China and the water mechanism was Greek. There were wooden robots representing the Arab world and a phoenix representing Egypt.

 

2. China was making steadfast progress in science while the northern African kingdoms were experimenting with alchemy. The scientific accomplishments of India, Egypt and Persia were already well documented and that paved the way for Ibn al-Haytham who became the most noted scientist of the tenth century. He came up with an illustrated explanation of human vision. He used a camera obscura or a pinhole camera which was invented by the Chinese to explain light traveling in straight line and used it to show how human vision worked in the presence of light and in unhindered spaces.

 

3. One of the earliest accurate depictions of the world on paper or cloth was the world map of Al-Idrisi. It was used since the twelfth century and even had wide acceptance during the age of exploration or age of discovery through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

 

4. Islamic science also made steadfast progress in ingenious devices. The Banu Musa brothers came up with a book that listed innumerable mechanical devices, from magic tricks to puzzles and even automata.

 

5. Al-Zahrawi, a surgeon based in Cordoba, came up with a plethora of surgical instruments in the tenth century which are still used today or are used as the basic design for more complicated tools. Some of the better known inventions of Al Zahrawi are forceps and syringe.

 

Looking to the future can serve to provide one with so many benefits. In addition to the fact that it’s simply good to keep up with where the world is going, particularly in terms of innovation, looking to the future also fuels our own dreams. The great trends that are changing the way we innovate in 2016 inspire us to reach for the heavens.

 

In terms of significant trends that will serve to change our present, in addition to our future, there are several things to get excited about.

 

Five Big Trends For 2016 And Beyond

If you want to get excited about the future will impact us as Islamic individuals, consider the following:

 

1. Look for the device mesh: Currently, we exchange information through things like laptops, smartphones, and tablets. However, expect this trend to evolve to extraordinary lengths for 2016 and beyond. A wider variety of endpoints will allow us to interact through wearables, augmented reality, and virtual reality.

 

2. Continuous and ambient: One significant trend that will that will serve to aid innovation for the future involves our digital interaction experiences becoming more continuous and ambient than ever before. We will be able to bring our experiences to a variety of devices and environments. No matter what, you will be able to remain the exact same entity, no matter where you might go.

 

3. 3D printing is going to become even more extraordinary: A little research on the subject of amazing 3D printing examples will yield some stunning results. People are already emphasizing innovation through 3D printing in a variety of staggering ways. Not only should you expect this to continue, but you should also expect things to develop and improve in ways you can scarcely imagine.

 

4. Machines are going to become even more adept at learning: We’re going to find that as time goes on, machines are going to become even better at understanding their surroundings. Perhaps more exciting, they are going to become even more adept at learning from those surroundings for future effort and reference.

 

5. Advanced system architecture is going to become even more advanced: As you can gather from all of the items above, the system architectures that will host all of these ideas is going to become more complex and elaborate than ever before. By the same token, potential threats and security demands for the future are going to have to rise to meet whatever we happen to come up with.