Hacker News Reader

Comment by asifnzaidi | Hacker News Reader

No one is denying Archimedes/Ptolemy or any of these great scientists. The point the Western world must ask itself is why does it present science in such a way so as to indicate that during its Dark Ages, the scientific world was infact flourishing. Muslims built on this history and w/o us, modern science would have stagnated courtesy of popes and bishops.

It must also be thought, how come after so many years in darkness then all of a sudden Europeans made these discoveries. Not for one moment do I believe that Leonardo DaVincis discoveries were inspirational and not built upon past work.

View on HN

B/C it didn't actually happen that way. The "Dark Ages" is a myth perpetuated in elementary school to children. The "Dark Ages" referred to the 100-200 year period immediately after the fall of Rome, during which Western Europe was thrown in relative chaos. After that however, Europe was fairly vibrant, and new inventions were churned out over the next several centuries (mostly military, agricultural, and metal working technologies). Italy never lost its luster as a center for science and research; even after Rome's fall, the climate, location, and trade made it attractive to inventors, architects, and artists--the Vatican did not fall. For example, the earliest patent systems, (yes, plural) predated the reintroduction of Classical texts into Europe. Many European scientists and mathematicians independently came up with ideas similar to the Ancient Greek dudes, but don't get popular credit for this because they weren't first.

Actually, in the 'Dark Ages', it was Islamic science that was at the forefront of the science - algebra, a new discipline, was invented by a Muslim from Persia. It was not until 1500's that European's made inroads into science and when Newton came along simply took science to the next level. I have no problem admitting to facts - but what gets my goat is when Europeans present science as something dynamic during the tmie of Greeks and then stagnant for some period and then the boom. At least acknowledge it a bit - may even help the world political situation !!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com