DOHA: An exhibition highlighting selected digitised items of famous scholar Ibn Al Haytham from Qatar National Library’s (QNL) heritage collection and Qatar Digital Library (QDL) was held at the Unesco headquarters in Paris.
The exhibition, a joint initiative between QNL, Qatar National Commission to Unesco and Unesco Doha Office, was part of an international conference on accomplishments of the Islamic civilisation in its Golden Age and Al Haytham’s life and works.
Born during the creative era known as the Islamic Golden Age, Al Haytham (965-1040) is regarded as one of the most prolific thinkers of all time. Dedicating his life to the study of optics and light, the 11th century scientist’s crucial discoveries made a significant contribution to what is today known as the modern scientific method.
QDL is home to thousands of manuscripts and books of many Muslim scholars and scientists, notably Al Haytham, chosen by Unesco as the revered icon of its celebration of International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies (IYL 2015).
IYL 2015 honoured the ‘Father of Modern Optics’ and the millennial anniversary of his most revered work, a seven-volume treatise on optics, Kitab Al Manazer (Book of Optics), which laid the foundation for modern physics of optics and drastically changed the understanding of light and how the concept of vision functions is understood.
IYL 2015 is a worldwide year-long initiative to create global awareness on the significance of optics and vision and the impact it has had on human civilisation. It highlights how light-based technologies contribute to social development and how advancements in the field have assisted in alleviating many global issues.
QNL, by making many of Al Haytham’s works accessible to the world through its QDL portal and Heritage Collection, highlights his legacy and the golden age of Islamic civilisation, inspiring future generations and asserting its pioneering role and vision of bridging with knowledge Qatar’s and the Arab and Islamic world’s heritage and future.
QNL is a world-class modern institution that also functions as a research-level university library and a metropolitan public library for the digital age. It is home to Heritage Collection, founded in the early 1980s as part of H E Sheikh Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani’s vision to create, and make accessible a landmark repository of Qatar and regional history in the heart of Doha.
The Peninsula
