On a hill to the west of the city of Maragha in northern Iran lie the remains of an observatory. Built for astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in the 13th century, this observatory was home to a variety of instruments, a school of astronomy and a huge library. It attracted scholars from as far afield as China eager to learn how to set up astronomical facilities of their own. While the tables of planetary and stellar motion compiled from observations at Maragha remained popular for 200 years, even influencing Nicolaus Copernicus in his development of the heliocentric model of the solar system.
Similar achievements took place throughout the Muslim world between the 7th and 14th centuries. From Asia and the Middle East to north Africa and the Iberian peninsula Islamic scholars made impressive contributions across a range of fields including mathematics, optics, medicine, alchemy and philosophy. But by the 15th century, Islamic science had all but dried up, and today Muslim countries remain near the bottom of the scientific pile. Not one of the world's top 200 universities, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement, is located in a Muslim country, despite the fact that together these countries contain more than a fifth of the world's population.
http://newageislam.com/a-way-forward-for-islamic-science--/islamic-culture/d/1343
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