The Machines of the East

Today on Far Future Horizons we explore the Science and Technology of the Islamic Golden Age with another exciting episode of the acclaimed documentary series of Ancient Discoveries - Machines of the East.

This installment of Ancient Discoveries exams the remarkable inventions of Arabic engineers such as Al-Jazari amongst others.

The Elephant Clock was one of the most famous inventions of Al-Jazari

Al-Jazari lived in what is now modern Iraq and Turkey in the 13th century. He was a polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist,mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, who worked in service of the Artuqid dynasty in Diyarbakır, Asia Minor.

Al-Jazari's hydropowered saqiya chain pump device

Al-Jazari is best known for writing the Kitáb fíma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) in 1206, where he described fifty mechanical devices along with instructions on how to construct them. His designs include automated water-lifting mechanisms, water-based clocks, and a variety of geared mechanisms. 
 

Ancient Discoveries - Machines of the East is one documentary you will want to add to your collection and is available on DVD from the History Channel online store.

Ancient Discoveries - Machines of the East

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