Science and Islam. The Power of Doubt. BBC video. Was Nicolaus Copernicus simply the last of the astronomers of the Islamic tradition?

This is part 3 in a BBC series of Science and Islam. Copernicus clearly relied on much of the work of Islamic astronomers in formulating his new model of the solar system. The Islamic astronomers' distrust of the Ptolemaic model based on their observations, was perhaps the birth of modern scientific skepticism.

I also can't help but think Islamic contributions to science were deliberately written out of Western textbooks.

By the way, throughout this last 12 months, we have had several popular posts and discussions about the contribution of Islamic scholars to modern science and thought. Were lucky enough to have some informed Islamic scholars participate as well. Here is a brief collection :

When Muslims, Christians and Jews worked together on a way to truth via philosophy and science. Averroes again.

Today I learned that the person who introduced secularism to Christianity and Judaism and kick-started science in Western Europe was actually a brilliant Islamic scholar and the vigorous discussion of the same post [in r/science](http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/aijii/today_i_learned_that_the_person_who_introduced/).

When Baghdad was centre of the scientific world.

Enjoy .... oh and happy Fourth Quarter Day!