Dr Taha Yasin Arslan (Medeniyet University, Istanbul) will examine the evolution of instruments of observation and calculation in the Islamic world between the 9th and 16th centuries. What was the driving force for making instruments? How did this knowledge survive? Was there a transmission of knowledge on instruments between the Islamic world and West? And if so, was this transmission one-way or two-ways, Intermittent or continuous?

Dr Taha Yasin Arslan is an assistant professor at the Department of the History of Science of Istanbul Medeniyet University in Istanbul, Turkey. His research deals with the extant astronomical instruments and related manuscripts in the Islamic world. As part of his academic studies, he makes digital and physical reproductions of the instruments that were described in the historical texts. His recent focus is on the transition and transmission of practical astronomical knowledge in the Islamic world between the 13th and 16th centuries.