For millennia, Egypt has made significant contributions to the progress of mankind and to the advancement of society. As a cradle of civilization and a beacon of knowledge, Egypt was a leader in scientific discoveries and innovations that defined the foundations of many fields including astronomy, chemistry, medicine, and of course engineering whose supremacy can still be seen today in the majestic architecture of the Pyramids and Karnak. Indeed, Egypt is a living testimony to the nexus between the power of knowledge and the progress of society.
Six millennia ago, an ingenious technique for measuring time was invented to clock the periods of the Nile flooding. This methodology led to the birth of the solar calendar.
Chemistry as a field has its root in the name of the ancient land and the art of the discipline was in full use there for the making of glass, bronze and metal chemistry. Even the synthesis of new compounds was apparently known at the time.
According to a recent report by a team of French scientists, the eye cosmetics used at the time of Nefertiti contained a man-made lead compound that helped treat or prevent eye disease.
The Library of Alexandria was a center of knowledge that gathered scholars from all over the world.
In Alexandria some two thousand years ago, the library and museum constituted a center of gravity for scholars including Euclid, Archimedes, Hipparchus, and Hepatia.
Nearly a thousand years ago, the Islamic civilization spread, along with its scientific achievements, to Europe and Asia and there is no doubt that this contact paved the way to the European Renaissance. Science blossomed and Renaissance men emerged.
The Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham, known to the West as Alhazen, who lived ca. 965-1040 CE in Iraq and Egypt, made major contributions to the science of imaging and vision. His concepts were later used by Descartes, Newton, and Leonardo Da Vinci and his experiments with light in what is called “the dark room,” or hogra al-mozlema , later known as camera obscura, formed the basis of modern photography.
Al-Hazen’s work formed the basis of modern photography.
The making of useful knowledge by Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Rushd (the polymath philosopher known in the West as Averroes), Ibn Sina (the foremost physician of his time, known as Avicenna), and al-Khawarizmi (whose Latinized name, Algoritmi, inspired the terms algorism and algorithm) forged centers of enlightenment in Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba. A millennium ago, Al-Azhar was established as a knowledge institution, ahead of universities in Europe.
Only two centuries ago under the visionary leadership of Mohammed Ali, Modern Egypt underwent a renaissance in education, culture, and industry. Egypt again became a regional industrial and military superpower, and reforms in education led by Rifa’a al-Tahtawi and his followers were crucial elements that brought about the renaissance.
Al-Azhar
In the years to follow, Cairo shone as the center for studies and cultural activities in literature, arts, science, and media. Egyptian universities graduated leaders in all fields and their works influenced Arab society at large. We still live with the echoes of their contributions, from the writings of Taha Hussein, Naguib Mahfouz, and Ali Moustafa Mosharafa, to the songs and films of Umm Kulthum, Abdel Wahab, and Faten Hamama.
In the twentieth century, Egypt established democratic governance and built powerful institutions in various sectors, including Cairo University, Al-Ahly and Misr Banks, Al-Ahram newspaper, and industries such as textiles and motion pictures. With this advanced status, Egypt attracted and educated future generations of Arabs.
At present, however, the contributions of Egypt and the Arab world to science and technology, and to knowledge-based economic productivity, are modest if not minor on the global level. This has led to the export of skills in what is known as the phenomenon of brain drain; i.e., the migration of many able scientists to Western countries and the import of technology from Western and other advanced nations. Both the brain drain and the lack of a solid scientific base in Egypt and other Arab countries have limited their participation in the global market. The Arab world is rich in human and financial resources and there should be no major obstacles preventing the building of a world-class scientific base. This knowledge base is vital for the future of the Arab people, not only for economic prosperity but also for their enlightenment and influence in world affairs.
The choice is ours: either to become three hundred and fifty million people of the cave, ahl al-kahf, or three hundred and fifty million people of the cosmos, ahl al-kawn.
