The Empire of Reason

The Empire of Reason

Available on Pluto TV
S1 E2: Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries. He travels to Syria to discover how, a thousand years ago, the astronomer and mathematician Al-Biruni estimated the size of the earth to within a few hundred miles of the correct figure.