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Baitul Hikmah: The Unforgettable Library of Baghdad

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Baitul Hikmah: The Unforgettable Library of Baghdad - 24informationcafe During the Abbasid Caliphate (The Abbasids) Baghdad became a center of intellectual and economic excellence. One example of their funding of science is the famous library in Baghdad, Baitul Hikmah, which in English is called the House of Wisdom. From around the fifth century to at least the ninth century, the library's collection was the largest in the world. Its courtyard was always crowded with the great scholars of that time. Establishment and development The concept of Baitul Hikmah dates back to the founding of Baghdad. The second Abbasid caliph, Al-Mansur, moved the capital here. The aim was to completely wipe out the Umayyad influence centered in Damascus. Islamic power replaced the Sassanids in the region. However, their influence remained in the Abbasid court. As a result, many customs of the old empire remained. Sassanid nobles built houses called ganj to store books. Its equivale...
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The 52-Hz Whale: The Story of the Lone Whale of the Sea

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The 52-Hz Whale: The Mystery of the Ocean's Loneliest Creature The 52-Hz Whale: The Story of the Lone Whale of the Sea During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the US Navy built several facilities to monitor the movements of Soviet submarines. Those installations were equipped with hydrophones, which could detect the subtlest sounds in the ocean depths. Soviet submarines mainly operated in the 20-50 Hz sound-range. Hydrophones were designed to detect sounds near this range. However, the instruments were able to track whale sounds in coastal areas as well as submarines. Whales mainly produce sounds in the 10-40 Hz range. When US-Soviet tensions eased, these instruments were given to marine life research. The time was December 1989. Bill Watkinson, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a marine life research center in Massachusetts, suddenly caught a strange and unexpected noise on the radar. The frequ...
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The Misinformation Effect: Why We Are Susceptible to Fake News

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The Misinformation Effect: Why We Are Susceptible to Fake News The Misinformation Effect: Why We Are Susceptible to Fake News In 1978, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus conducted a famous experiment on human memory. Participants were shown a video of a road accident. They were then asked several questions about the video. These questions were formulated following the way the police or investigative team would ask eyewitnesses after an accident. There was such a question, When the cars hit each other, how fast were they moving? Some witnesses were asked the same question slightly differently. How fast were the cars going when they smashed into each other? The researchers were surprised to find that using the word 'crushed' instead of 'hurt' caused the video of the accident to be stored differently in the participants' memories. A week later they were asked if they had seen any broken glass in the video of the accident. Most of the pa...
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How did the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols of mathematics come about?

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How Did the Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division Symbols of Mathematics Come About? How did the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols of mathematics come about? Not only this American astrophysicist, but many scientists in the world have made many statements about mathematics. What is the way without or without? In fact, we all are stuck without mathematics in our daily life. Like this, you decide when you wake up in the morning with numbers. What's the first thing you do when you wake up, what's the second thing you do; This 'first', 'second' is also part of mathematics. The history of this mathematics is vast. But today's story is not about mathematics, but about a part of mathematics; Its identity is called 'mathematical symbols'. The number of members of this part of mathematics is not low at all. Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Equals, Square Root, Pi, Bracket...
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Game Theory: The Science of Intelligent Decision Making

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Game Theory: The Science of Intelligent Decision Making Game Theory: The Science of Intelligent Decision Making Remember the movie 'A Beautiful Mind'? It tells the story of a brilliant mathematician battling schizophrenia and moving forward. After the release of the movie, this mathematician named John Forbes Nash became popular among the common people overnight. He later won the Nobel Prize for the theory he discovered based on a PhD thesis he submitted at the age of 21. The title of the thesis was 'Non Cooperative Game'. Many people may think, why did 'game' come in mathematics? In fact, there is a huge theory called game theory, which is no longer confined to mathematics or science. It is used in many areas including economics, social science, politics, trade, international relations. Game theory provides a theoretical framework for what the intelligent behavior of multiple agents engaged in competitive relationships should look ...
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History of birth of Imaginary numbers

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History of the Birth of Imaginary Numbers Historians do not dispute that the Egyptians were ahead of their contemporaries in knowledge. Various aspects of their knowledge emerged around their famous Kirti Pyramid. In mathematics, the shape of a pyramid or a cone has a special significance. What is obtained by cutting off the head of a cone or pyramid is called a frustum in mathematical terms. The Egyptians had to determine the volume of this frustum at various stages of the construction of the pyramids. The ancient Egyptians, advanced in knowledge, themselves established a formula for determining the volume of the frustum. The formula was, Here, a and b denote the sides of the vertex and the length of the ground of the frustum respectively. However, determining the volume of a frustum by directly measuring its height, although easy nowadays, was quite a difficult task then. So the Egyptians used the frustum's diameter for their convenience to deter...
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World leaders fight over cyber weapons | Episode 2

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World Leaders Clash Over Cyber Weapons: Episode 2 - The NSO Group, Israel, and Global Cyber Politics Last November (2021), the US blacklisted the NSO group. The list was originally created to prevent American companies from selling anything to nations or organizations involved in the production of lethal weapons. In recent times, various cyber weapon manufacturing companies have been added to this list. NSO will no longer be able to source any of the raw materials they need from American companies. It was a public rebuke for the company, which is in many ways the middleman of Israel's defense sector. As they were not allowed to use American technology, they had to do the work of managing Dell computers or Amazon cloud servers themselves. This threatens the entire functioning of the company. The US sent the news to Israel's Ministry of Defense less than half an hour before it was published. Israeli officials were furious. Media headlines started pourin...
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Popular posts from this blog

Baitul Hikmah: The Unforgettable Library of Baghdad

-
Image
Baitul Hikmah: The Unforgettable Library of Baghdad - 24informationcafe During the Abbasid Caliphate (The Abbasids) Baghdad became a center of intellectual and economic excellence. One example of their funding of science is the famous library in Baghdad, Baitul Hikmah, which in English is called the House of Wisdom. From around the fifth century to at least the ninth century, the library's collection was the largest in the world. Its courtyard was always crowded with the great scholars of that time. Establishment and development The concept of Baitul Hikmah dates back to the founding of Baghdad. The second Abbasid caliph, Al-Mansur, moved the capital here. The aim was to completely wipe out the Umayyad influence centered in Damascus. Islamic power replaced the Sassanids in the region. However, their influence remained in the Abbasid court. As a result, many customs of the old empire remained. Sassanid nobles built houses called ganj to store books. Its equivale...
Read more

Five Writers of the Golden Age of Russia

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Five Writers of the Golden Age of Russia Five Writers of the Golden Age of Russia Russian writers have a special place in the world of literature. Not only the literature of the whole world, but also politics, economy, and even society can see an influence of Russian literature. Almost every writer and reader, young and old, can be seen appreciating Russian literature. There is no other example of such an influence of writers from any one country. Long Russian literature reached the peak of its abundance in the nineteenth century. With new languages, new art, modernity and ornamentation, Russian literature then brought a revolution. The waves of the revolution reached beyond Russia to the entire world. The world is still enveloped in the fragrance of the Golden Age of Russian literature. Many great writers have glorified this Golden A...
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The 52-Hz Whale: The Story of the Lone Whale of the Sea

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Image
The 52-Hz Whale: The Mystery of the Ocean's Loneliest Creature The 52-Hz Whale: The Story of the Lone Whale of the Sea During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the US Navy built several facilities to monitor the movements of Soviet submarines. Those installations were equipped with hydrophones, which could detect the subtlest sounds in the ocean depths. Soviet submarines mainly operated in the 20-50 Hz sound-range. Hydrophones were designed to detect sounds near this range. However, the instruments were able to track whale sounds in coastal areas as well as submarines. Whales mainly produce sounds in the 10-40 Hz range. When US-Soviet tensions eased, these instruments were given to marine life research. The time was December 1989. Bill Watkinson, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), a marine life research center in Massachusetts, suddenly caught a strange and unexpected noise on the radar. The frequ...
Read more