How the Gulf’s rulers want to harness the power of science
A stronger R&D base, they hope, will transform their countries’ economies. Will their plan work?
Bayt al-Hikma, or the House of Wisdom, in Baghdad emerged in the ninth century—even before the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome, widely considered the first academy of sciences. The Banu Musa brothers, sons of an astronomer in Baghdad, created the first machine with a stored program there and scientific textbooks from the institute were translated and made their way to Europe.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Return of the House of Wisdom”
From the January 11th 2025 edition
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