(February 23, 2014 at 3:30 pm)Stimbo Wrote:(February 23, 2014 at 3:15 am)Cthulhu Dreaming Wrote: Regardless of what one could say the state of science in the Islamic world today - they (amongst others) were instrumental in keeping astronomy alive while the Christian world was stagnant for many centuries.
Most of the star names we still use today come from the Arabic - Algol (the demon star), Aldebaran, Vega, Arrakis (yes, it really exists), Fomalhaut etc. Not to mention my personal favourite, Zubenelgenubi.
Nowadays I guess all stars would be named Allah or Mohammed and you'd get your head chopped off for saying them.
To be fair about it I'm sure that a little digging will show that most, if not all, of the Arabic achievements came from their Jewish collaborators. It's hard to imagine any desert dwelling nomad coming up with any scientific achievement. They simply didn't have the educational system. The Jews did. And so did the Persians.
