History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Research Cluster Seminar
14 May 2021 - 14 May 2021
3:00PM - 4:30PM
Zoom online - will be circulated prior to the meeting
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Free to attend
The Durham History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Research group has scheduled events for Easter term. Next talk by Nader El-Bizri (Beirut/Durham) - Entitled 'Experimentation as a Method of Demonstration and Proof in Alhazen's Optics'
Department of History Building
Abstract: This lecture examines the methodological rudiments of experimentation and controlled testing in the scientific legacy of the Arab polymath Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham; b. ca. 965 CE in Basra, d. ca. 1041 CE in Cairo). This line of inquiry will be mainly focused on the demonstrations and proofs that Alhazen presents through his experimental procedures in support of his theories of light and vision in the Book of Optics (Kitab al-manazir; De aspectibus; Perspectiva), while showing how this method is underpinned by his broader epistemic approach in studying natural phenomena through the mathematical restructuring of natural philosophy qua physics.