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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: The Islamic Golden Age

The Essay: The Islamic Golden Age: Episode 7: Al-Khwarizmi

Factual: History

The Islamic Golden Age

Episode 7

Episode 7: Al-Khwarizmi

Al-Khwarizmi

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Jim Al-Khalili explores the legacy of mathematician and astronomer al-Khwarizmi.

In a series about key thinkers and achievements from the Islamic Golden Age, Iraqi-born scientist Jim Al-Khalili explores the legacy of mathematician and astronomer al-Khwarizmi.

In a major series for Radio 3, we rediscover some of the key thinkers and achievements from the Islamic Golden Age. The period ranges from 750 to 1258 CE and over twenty episodes, we'll hear about architecture, invention, medicine, mathematics, innovation and philosophy.

In today's essay, Iraqi-born scientist, writer and broadcaster Jim Al-Khalili tells us about the legacy of al-Khwarizmi. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a Persian mathematician, astronomer, astrologer geographer and a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. The House of Wisdom was a renowned centre of scientific research and teaching in his time - attracting some of the greatest minds of the Islamic Golden Age. Al-Khwarizmi was born in Persia around 780 and was one of the learned men who worked in the House of Wisdom under the leadership of Caliph al-Mamun, the son of the caliph Harun al-Rashid, who was made famous in the Arabian Nights.

Producer: Mohini Patel.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Series rediscovering some of the key thinkers and achievements from the Islamic Golden Age

Series rediscovering some of the key thinkers and achievements from the Islamic Golden Age, focusing on architecture, invention, medicine, innovation and philosophy

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