Thread: Which religion has contributed the most to science, Islam or Christianity?

Originally posted by vasanth
To add my bit here.. Indians invented 0 (Zero)

Are you sure of this?!
I think you are wrong, the Babylonian are the ones who invented the zero.
And as far as I know the old indian numbers didn't look like this 0, 1, 2, ...

Then the symbol of a circle with a dot inside was added by the Arabs, and then people some people used the circle without the dot, and other used the dot without the circle.

Here are some statistics for you people...

Spending on scientific research in the middle east amounted to 0.2% in 1994 as oppossed to 2.5% in western europe.

Islamic scientist Al-Khwarizmi founded algebra in the 9th century.

See 26th April eddition of New Scientist pg 27. There is an article on the halt in scientific developement in islamic countries.

The Indian Numeral System

Although the Chinese were also using a decimal based counting system, the Chinese lacked a formal notational system that had the abstraction and elegance of the Indian notational system, and it was the Indian notational system that reached the Western world through the Arabs and has now been accepted as universal. Several factors contributed to this development whose significance is perhaps best stated by French mathematician, Laplace: "The ingenious method of expressing every possible number using a set of ten symbols (each symbol having a place value and an absolute value) emerged in India. The idea seems so simple nowadays that its significance and profound importance is no longer appreciated. It's simplicity lies in the way it facilitated calculation and placed arithmetic foremost amongst useful inventions."



Brilliant as it was, this invention was no accident. In the Western world, the cumbersome roman numeral system posed as a major obstacle, and in China the pictorial script posed as a hindrance. But in India, almost everything was in place to favor such a development. There was already a long and established history in the use of decimal numbers, and philosophical and cosmological constructs encouraged a creative and expansive approach to number theory. Panini's studies in linguistic theory and formal language and the powerful role of symbolism and representational abstraction in art and architecture may have also provided an impetus, as might have the rationalist doctrines and the exacting epistemology of the Nyaya Sutras, and the innovative abstractions of the Syadavada and Buddhist schools of learning.
Emergence of Calculus

In the course of developing a precise mapping of the lunar eclipse, Aryabhatta was obliged to introduce the concept of infinitesimals - i.e. tatkalika gati to designate the infinitesimal, or near instantaneous motion of the moon, and express it in the form of a basic differential equation. Aryabhatta's equations were elaborated on by Manjula (10th Century) and Bhaskaracharya (12th Century) who derived the differential of the sine function. Later mathematicians used their intuitive understanding of integration in deriving the areas of curved surfaces and the volumes enclosed by them.

Originally posted by Kinasz
Here are some statistics for you people...

Spending on scientific research in the middle east amounted to 0.2% in 1994 as oppossed to 2.5% in western europe.

Islamic scientist Al-Khwarizmi founded algebra in the 9th century.

See 26th April eddition of New Scientist pg 27. There is an article on the halt in scientific developement in islamic countries.

No one doubts that spending on scientific research in the middle east is very low!

My comment was on:

Indians invented 0 (Zero)

And what I knew was that the Babylonians are the ones who invented the zero, since there was no representation of the zero before them, and the zero was just not written!
And even the source that vasanth gave says:

The Babylonians are attributed with the first recording of the number zero in the 3rd century B.C. the Babylonians used the zero in their place value system.

So Indian didn't invent it, but they - if we can say - "developed" the zero.

well i dont really think you can invent a concept..its more of discovering one.

http://islamicity.com/science/
http://www.asa3.org/

both are pretty interesting reads imo

"I disagree (at least in a contemporary perspective). Religion has provided scientists with many things to explain."

... religion has denied scientific explanations in favour of divine ones.

"There has been a great deal of scientific research done because of religion."

Like what?

Maybe they should start a field of science to study why everyone is getting worked up so much about this.

Anyway, we all know it was the christians who did the most!

I suppose in the old days in UK, if you were a scientist you were walking on thin ice.

You may find yourself being killed for inventing or discovering 'the devils' work.

Does that show hindering? I guess so.

Originally posted by beege31337
This all reminds me of the day I invented ice.

Lol thats funny

"For example, a monk in the 19th century, in an attempt to understand "God's Creation" founded the modern field of genetics, by studying pea plants."

The logic is faulty, just because Mendel was a monk does not mean religion was the driving force behind his discoveries.

Chances are the what drove Mendel is exactly the same thing that drove every other scientist, the drive to understand, that has nothing to do with religion.

You seem to think that Mendel being a monk and believing in "God's creation", is key to his interest in genetics, what evidence do you have to support that claim?

"now, one could argue that these people werent doing it for religious reasons, but were doing it out of there "secular" self , but in that case, should i say that artists must be religious, as creativity doesnt usually coincide with scientific,rational,logical thinking?"

I don't just think that they "weren't doing it for religious reasons", I think they were doing it DESPITE religious preference.

Religion did not help science because it DENIED naturalistic explanations in favour of divine ones, science seeks to explain the universe, religion already has all the answers.

Science: Why is there wind?
Religion: God wishes it.
Science: Why?
Religion: Do not question the mind of God INFIDEL!
Science: Why is the sky blue?
Religion: God wishes it.

etc. etc. etc.

Your reasoning seems to boil to: "Many scientists were also religious therefore religion must have been a driving force behind science"

Which is in essence no more valid than:

"Many scientists often ate oranges, therefore eating oranges must have been a driving force behind science"

"I myself am nonreligious, not even spiritual, but i dont deny that christianity and islam have contributed to science."

Then explain how.