Description

Human Machine Past in the House of Wisdom: Learning for the Future

A thousand years ago during Islamic civilisation, creative engineers imagined machines that both assisted and entertained people. Today engineers design ever-more complex machines that seek  the same purpose. During this lecture, we will explore a time of creative machines crafted by the engineer's imagination.  

Automated water pumps, mechanical orchestras and robotic clocks - engineers designed all these during Islamic civilisation. As early as 850, the Banu Musa brothers of Baghdad completed a book of ingenious inventions. They imagined a time of machines that both assisted and entertained people.

Clever mechanisms later took on deeper complexity as engineers experimented with robots in the form of humans and animals. In 11th-century Islamic Spain, Al-Muradi’s book contained dozens of clocks and calendars with moving human figures. In 1206, Al-Jazari included his dazzling clock with elephant and driver in the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. It also described water-raising machines and a mechanical waiter, able to serve drinks. 

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