Display
The History of Science Museum displays the history
and development of science from the Pharaonic era to the Modern Age.
Egypt of the Pharaohs
The visitor starts his journey with ancient Egyptian
science and technology.
The ancient Egyptians were known for the power of observation for
practical knowledge and for their scientific skills in different
fields such as astronomy, mathematics and agriculture. They also
excelled at the treatment of diseases.
The ancient Egyptian priests created a lunar calendar that depended
on the moon, and a solar calendar that followed the sun, consisting
of 365 days.
| Egypt
of the Pharaohs Section |
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Ancient Egyptians depended on agriculture and
divided the year into three seasons: flood, germination, and harvest.
The contact between ancient Egyptians and their neighboring cultures
resulted in a great technological revolution. In addition, wars
familiarized them with different weapons and enabled them to make
use of horses.
Medical sciences were highly developed and they
varied from preparation of medication, to sophisticated operations
such as brain surgeries.
Ancient Egyptians developed expertise in the treatment of diseases
with medication. They also practised spiritual healing using magic or amulets.
Hellenistic Alexandria
The Greeks, building on medical sciences the ancient
Egyptians had perfected, developed many mathematical and philosophical
sciences that led to the formulation of theories.
Mathematical sciences were not only confined to
algebra and geometry, but also comprised physics, astronomy optics
mechanics and music.
| Hellenistic
Alexandria Section |
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Euclid, the most distinguished scientist, wrote
what is now regarded as the first encyclopedia in mathematics, encompassing
with mathematics, astronomy, music, optics and mechanics.
He was followed by “Diophantus” who was known as “the Father of
Algebra”.
In addition to mathematics, astronomy attracted
Greek scientists. “Hipparchus” measured the solar year; “Aristarchus
of Samos” founded the heliocentric theory; and “Eratosthenes” proved
that the earth is spherical, and measured its circumference.
There are also the works of Cetisibius, Archimedes,
Philo of Byzantium and Hero of Alexandria. Each one of them played
a role in the development of mechanics, optics and music. They also
made important contributions to mathematics and physics.
In the field of medicine, there are the contributions
of Hirophilus and Erasistratus, in anatomy, and Disocrades in pharmacology,
while Galen’s methods were used for about 15 decades.
Arab Muslims
The contributions of Arab scientists were significant.
The new leaders did not reject the cultural tradition they found
at that time; on the contrary, they valued that heritage and translated
it into different languages.
| Arab
Muslims Section |
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Foremost among Arab contributions are the works
of Al Khwarizmi in the fields of algebra, astronomy, and logarithms;
Thabit Ibn Qurra in mathematics and astronomy; Ibn El Haytham in
optics; Banu Musa Bin Shaker the inheritants of Alexandrian mechanics,
and their works in the fields of astronomy, and mathematics and Al Jazari
who designed several water pumps and invented a robot.
In the medical sciences one finds the contributions
of Al Razi who was known as Arab Galen and Ibn Al Nafis who paved
the way for Harvey’s discovering of the short circulatory system.
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