History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise

History of Science, Ottoman or Otherwise

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What did it mean to pursue science in the Ottoman Empire? Who practiced it and why? And how should scholars approach the topic today? This series of podcasts introduces new research that challenges the traditional story of science in the Ottoman Empire. Setting aside long-held assumptions of the passive reception of European science or of a golden age stymied by religious obscurantism, these podcasts explore how artisans, scholars, and others made sense of the natural world. Some examine topics and actors traditionally regarded as outside the bounds of science, such as alchemy, while others reveal connections to broader worlds of intellectual exchange. Yet others situate seemingly cerebral sciences like astronomy or medicine in the everyday contexts of religion and charity. Together they reveal a new and vibrant intellectual world that has been too often overlooked.

Recent Episodes

  • The Natural Sciences in Early Modern Morocco

    11 months ago
  • Shipping and Empire around the Arabian Peninsula, Part 2

    11 months ago
  • Shipping and Empire around the Arabian Peninsula

    1 year ago
  • Islam and Science Fiction

    2 years ago
  • Science in Early Modern Istanbul

    4 years ago
  • Plague in the Ottoman World

    4 years ago
  • The Arab Conquest of Space

    4 years ago
  • Status Quo Utopias in the UAE

    5 years ago
  • Forging Islamic Science

    5 years ago
  • Medicine and Muslim Modernity in China

    5 years ago