The Power of Doubt

Description

Challenging the scholarly establishment in the 11th century with his paper "Doubts on Ptolemy," Ibn Al-Haytham sparked a paradigm shift in the way that learned people regarded the movement of planets and stars. In this program physics professor Jim Al-Khalili visits Italy, Egypt, and Syria to show how the spirit of inquiry among Islamic astronomers helped bring about the Copernican Revolution in Europe. But why was the work that began at the great Maragheh observatory completed in Europe and not in the Middle East? Al-Khalili also goes to Tehran to examine the role of science in Islam today.

Runtime

52 min

Series

Genre

Date of Publication

[2012], c2009

Database

Films on Demand

Direct Link