History of Science in the Middle East Part 1: The Legacy of Ottoman Science

The Middle East includes at least two major empires, namely Ottoman and Persian. In Part 1 of this review, we focus on the studies of the scientific developments of the Ottomans, and we discussed their contributions in different fields, such as astronomy, medicine, and earth sciences, etc. In terms of Ottoman astronomy, Ulugh Beg (1394-1449) compiled Zij-i Sultani (astronomical table and star catalogue). His student, Ali Qushji (1403-74), wrote the mathematical work entitled al-Muḥammadiyya fī al-ḥisāb (The Muḥammadiyya Treatise on Arithmetic) and the astronomical works entitled al-Fathiyya (The Treatise of Conquest). For medicine, Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu (1385-1468) published Cerrahiyyetü’l-Haniyye (Imperial surgery), and Şanizade Mehmed Ataullah Efendi (1771-1826) wrote Teşrih-ül Ebdan ve Tercümânı Kıbale-i Feylesûfan (the first illustrated anatomy textbook in Ottoman-Turkish medicine). For Ottoman earth sciences, Piri Reis (1470-1553) published his 1513 world map and his nautical atlas, the Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of the Sea). Kâtip Çelebi (1609-57) compiled a vast universal bibliographic encyclopaedia of books and sciences, the Kaşf az-Zunūn. This review should form another discourse of modern scientific advances, other than the European narrative.