"Research into Islamic science is still in its early stages, but there is now sufficient material available for a preliminary study. This volume is intended to fill a gap which really deserves a major, multi-volume work. A short history of science in Islam is sketched out, including a look at technology and medicine, both fields of study which have been somewhat neglected. The contributions of Islamic civilisation to mathematics, astronomy and physics have long been acknowledged, but also recognised here are the advances made by Muslim scientists in the fields of cosmology, geology, mineralogy, zoology and botany. Historians of Islamic science tend to limit their studies to the period up to the sixteenth century, but this volume looks at how science and technology continued and flourished in the Ottoman Empire, Iran and India. Finally, the decline of Islamic science is discussed, and a look is taken at the state of science today and prospects for the future." (http://www.unesco.org/culture/aic/).