Da Vinci, Science and Islam

Whilst not quite from the Neil Armstrong Become Muslim After Hearing The Adhan On The Moon department, the Discovery News report on some fascinating research into Leonardo da Vinci’s fingerprints.

Leonardo da Vinci may have had an Arab heritage, according to Italian researchers who have isolated and reconstructed the Renaissance master’s fingerprint.

The fingerprint represents the only biological trace of the Florentine genius, said Luigi Capasso, an anthropologist at Chieti University.

“It is actually the first evidence of Leonardo’s corporeality,” Capasso told Discovery News.

And on a related note, Nature Magazine have a special feature on Islam and Science that is worth a visit.

In many countries with large Muslim populations the pendulum of power is swinging away from secular (but mostly undemocratic) government back to where it was for many centuries: to Islamist regimes, and Islamic law. What does this mean for Muslim scientists and science? For a very long time, Muslim states have scored badly on measures of science and technology. Will things be any better or worse under the new Islamist governments? Visit the newsblog to read and post comments on Islam and science.

They have assembled a collection of articles on the question of science in the Muslim world. I found the report on government investment in the sciences to be particularly interesting. Declan Butler has looked at spending on R&D in OIC countries and compared that to expenditure in other countries of similar wealth and the results are somewhat pathetic but entirely unsurprising. There just doesn’t seem to be a culture of research in the Muslim world nor a recognition of the value of science and innovation. Many of the more affluent Muslim countries also seem to have other priorities:

Part of the explanation lies in spending priorities. Many OIC countries, particularly the richest, spend more on armaments than on science, education or health. Six of the world’s top ten military spenders as a share of public spending are OIC countries: Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria and Oman (each spending above 7% of GDP on arms in 2003). African OIC countries, in contrast, tend to spend proportionately less on the military.