The influence of The One. Nothing, at least as far as I’m aware, has done more good for us. It might be us that did the bad. In fact it was.
If only Luther had come shortly after Alfred The Great. I’m sick of reading about those Muslim Scientists, I mean, I discovered the focal length at eight years old, and that was by fucking about with a magnifying glass whilst sat on my backdoor step.
The Sun had gone down by the time I’d tried it on the bricks and grass and hedge. A trip to the library and an instinctive search (I was always terrified of Librarians) showed be what I needed to know. Friends stood in awe, then ran off the tell their parents about the ‘bad lad’ down the road, after I’d rolled up some newspaper and harnessed the power of Nuclear Fusion. Well, from quite a distance likes, even by von Braun’s standards.
“And of the Seven, they chose Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power…”
Oh, I know of Al-Hazen (Ibn Al-Haytham) and several other Muslim Scholars related to Medicine, Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics and so on – excellent they all were too. But I can’t help but think where we would be now if the Scientific Revolution in Europe had happened sooner. We’d be industrialising around 1300AD, and worrying about Climate Change (and I don’t mean watching the weather report) in 1400AD. So, what would the Status Quo be in 1500? We have only to find out I suppose.
The influence of The One. Nothing, at least as far as I’m aware, has done more good for us. It might be us that did the bad. In fact it was.
If only Luther had come shortly after Alfred The Great. I’m sick of reading about those Muslim Scientists, I mean, I discovered the focal length at eight years old, and that was by fucking about with a magnifying glass whilst sat on my backdoor step.
The Sun had gone down by the time I’d tried it on the bricks and grass and hedge. A trip to the library and an instinctive search (I was always terrified of Librarians) showed be what I needed to know. Friends stood in awe, then ran off the tell their parents about the ‘bad lad’ down the road, after I’d rolled up some newspaper and harnessed the power of Nuclear Fusion. Well, from quite a distance likes, even by von Braun’s standards.
“And of the Seven, they chose Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power…”
Stephen:
Al-Hazen wrote a full seven-volume treatment of Optics on what would become Newtonian lines, during the Caliphate.
http://www.STARGATE.uk.net/dynamics.txt
Best,
Tony
PS: Michael Faraday is a hero of mine. >:-}
Oh, I know of Al-Hazen (Ibn Al-Haytham) and several other Muslim Scholars related to Medicine, Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics and so on – excellent they all were too. But I can’t help but think where we would be now if the Scientific Revolution in Europe had happened sooner. We’d be industrialising around 1300AD, and worrying about Climate Change (and I don’t mean watching the weather report) in 1400AD. So, what would the Status Quo be in 1500? We have only to find out I suppose.
And Faraday was excellent, I believe the Standard Internation (SI) unit of ‘Farad’ is named in his honour.
Alas, I’m more of a Nikola Tesla man myself. 🙂