We learn at school that Newton is the father of modern optics, Copernicus heralded the birth of astronomy and Snell deduced the law of refraction. But what debt do these men owe to the physicists and astronomers of the medieval Islamic Empire? What about Ibn al-Haytham, the greatest physicist in the 2000-year span between Archimedes and Newton, whose Book of Optics was just as influential as Newton’s seven centuries later? Or Ibn Sahl, who came up with the correct law of refraction many centuries before Snell? What of the astronomers al-Tusi and Ibn al-Shatir, without whom Copernicus would not have been able to formulate his heliocentric model of the solar system? In this lecture, Jim Al-Khalili recounts the stories of these characters and more from his new book Pathfinders: the Golden Age of Arabic Science.

Date: Thursday 20 October 2011

Speaker: Jim Al-Khalili
Jim Al-Khalili is a physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of physics and also professor of public engagement in science at the University of Surrey, UK. As well as his work on radio and television, he has written a number of popular-science books, the most recent of which is Pathfinders: the Golden Age of Arabic Science. His awards include the Royal Society Faraday Prize (2008), the IOP Kelvin Medal (2011), an OBE in 2008 and a Bafta nomination.

Moderator: Dr Margaret Harris, reviews and careers editor, Physics World