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.
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2022-12-14 | with Justin Stearns hosted by Shireen Hamza and Taylor Moore | When you think of the history of science, what people and places come to mind? Scientific knowledge production flourished in early modern Morocco, and not in the places you might ... |
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2022-12-03 | with Laleh Khalili hosted by Matthew Ghazarian | How did massive, modern shipping ports emerge from the sands of the Arabian Peninsula, and what they teach us about our present forms of global exchange? Combining historical research with site... |
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2022-10-01 | with Laleh Khalili hosted by Matthew Ghazarian | How did massive, modern shipping ports emerge from the sands of the Arabian Peninsula, and what they teach us about our present forms of global exchange? Combining historical research with site... |
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2022-02-13 | with Jörg Matthias Determann hosted by Shireen Hamza | Islam and science fiction have more history together than you might expect. In this episode, we speak with Jörg Matthias Determann about the many ways science has fueled the imagination o... |
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2020-03-25 | Episode 456 with Harun Küçük hosted by Sam Dolbee and Zoe Griffith What did science look like in early modern Istanbul? In this episode, Harun Küçük discusses his new book, Science without Leisure: Practical Naturalism in Istanbul, 1660-1732 (Universi... |
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2020-03-19 | Episode 455 featuring Nükhet Varlık, Yaron Ayalon, Orhan Pamuk, Lori Jones, Valentina Pugliano, and Edna Bonhomme narrated by Chris Gratien and Maryam Patton with contributions by Nir Shafir, Sam Dolbee, Tunç Şen, and Andreas GuidiThe plague is caused... |
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2019-10-25 | Episode 431with Jörg Matthias Determannhosted by Taylan GüngörDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudWhen Sultan bin Salman left Earth on the shuttle Discovery in 1985, he became the first Arab, first Muslim, and first member of a r... |
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2019-03-11 | Episode 405with Gökçe Günelhosted by Matthew GhazarianDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudAbout half-hour's drive from Abu Dhabi sits Masdar City, a clean technology and renewable energy business cluster and research institute. F... |
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2019-02-02 | Episode 400with Nir Shafirhosted by Suzie FergusonDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn this episode, Nir Shafir talks about the problem of "fake minatures" of Islamic science: small paintings that look old, but are actually con... |
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2018-07-01 | Episode 365with John Chenhosted by Shireen Hamza and Nir ShafirDownload the podcastFeed | iTunes | GooglePlay | SoundCloudIn the early twentieth century, Muslim modernizers all over the world were making new claims about Islam, and the Muslims of China... |
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