Asian Games Doha 2006 || OC || The Golden Age of Arab Science - City of the Future (2/2)

''Years pass on now the Seeker has a son of his own. The time has come to teach his son about his people's glorious past -- and pass on the magic astrolabe, the great gift of the falcon. In the glow of the astrolabe the boy sees the continuing evolution of technology, from the Golden Age of Arab Science and towards a glittering future.''
From around 750AD, science and philisophy flourished under Arab-Islamic patronage. The Arabs gathered the scientific and philosophical texts of the ancient Greeks and Romans, Persians and Indians and translated them into Arabic. They accumulated the greatest body of scientific knowledge in the world, which they preserved and built on with their own research. Arabic became the international language of science, and for 500 years Arab civilisation was the most advanced in the world. Only in the 12th and 13th centuriesm when Arabic texts began to be translated into Latin, did this knowledge pass to the West, leading to the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment.
We celebrate fire scientists of the Golden Age -- towering polymaths whos work still influences science today. Al-Biruni (973-1048), who developed the sperical astrolabe or armillary sphere, was the first to study the science, mathematics, number theory and astronomy of India. Not only did he establish how the earth moved, 600 years before Galileo, he also calculated the radius of the earth to within 65 kilometres.
''Together, father and son see Qatar's natural bounty of oil and gas hail the dawn of a glorious tomorrow: heritage, technology and education -- strong foundations for the City of the Future.''
Like the gleaming towers of our City of the Future, modern science and technology are built on the foundations laid by the great scientists of the Arab Golden Age. Qatar is now a world leader in Gas to Liquid (GTL) technology, a process which renders the nation's vast reserves of natural gas economically viable and wasily trasnportable. Qatar uses cutting-edge technology to produce sulphur-free, high performance GLT fuels which will cut exhaust emissions almost entirely -- greatly reducing air pollution. In June H.H. The Emir inaugurated the ORYX GLT Project -- the world's largest GLT plant and the first of several to come.
I'm sorry for the average quality, i'll try to find a better quality video in the future.
PS: Video originaly uploaded in Tudou, credits to the original footage. I do not claim ownership of this video or event, just published for entertaining purposes.