Education
Professional Positions
Publications
Books
Articles
and Book Chapters
Book
Review
Online
Publication
Talks and Presentations
Other Professional Activities
Professional Affiliations
Miscellaneous
Dissertation: “Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Jaghmīnī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa: An Edition, Translation, and Study,” McGill University, 2015 {pdf}
2016
Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ: An Islamic Introduction to Ptolemaic Astronomy . Sources in the History of Mathematics and Physical Sciences. New York: Springer-Verlag, 2016. {publisher website}
1996
Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on Premodern Science Held at the University of Oklahoma (co-edited with F. J. Ragep and with the assistance of S. J. Livesey). Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996. {publisher website}
Forthcoming
“Al-Jaghmīnī on the Volumes of the Planetary and Stellar Bodies: Edition and Translation.” [Forthcoming in Nazariyat Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences]
"Shīrāzī’s Attitude Toward Philosophy: Some Preliminary Observations" (with F. Jamil Ragep), to appear in a volume edited by Mustakim Arıcı, Asiye Aykıt, and Hasan Umut.
2022
“Jaghmīnī’s Qānūnča: A Popular Abridgement of Avicenna’s Canon.” In Transforming Medical Education. Historical Case Studies of Teaching, Learning, and Belonging in Medicine in Honour of Jacalyn Duffin, edited by Delia Gavrus and Susan Lamb, 54-85. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2022. {publisher website}
2021
“Eclipse.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Leiden: Brill, 2021.{publisher website}
2020 “Jaghmīnī.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE.
Leiden: Brill, 2020. {publisher website}
2019
“Astronomical and Other Mathematical Sciences” (with Jamil Ragep, Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan, Fateme Savadi, Hasan Umut). In Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3-1503/4) , Volume I: Essays, edited by Gülru Necipoğlu, Cemal Kafadar, and Cornell H. Fleischer, 823-855. Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2019. {publisher website}
“Making Manuscripts Confess.” In Surprise: 107 Variations on the Unexpected, edited by Anke te Heesen, Christine von Oertzen, Fernando Vidal, Mechthild Fend, 323-25. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, 2019. {pdf}
2017
“Fifteenth-Century Astronomy in the Islamic World.” In Before Copernicus: The Cultures and Contexts of Scientific Learning in the Fifteenth Century , edited by Rivka Feldhay and F. Jamil Ragep, 143-160. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017. {publisher website}
2016
“The Teaching of Theoretical Astronomy in Pre-modern Islam: Looking Beyond Individual Initiatives.” In Schüler und Meister, edited by Andreas Speer and Thomas Jeschke (Miscellanea Mediaevalia 39), 557-568. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016.{publisher website}
2014
“al-Jaghmīnī.” In Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, eds. Thomas Hockey et al., 2 vols., p. 584. New York: Springer, 2007. {online version} 2 nd edition, 2014, pp. 1105-1106.
“Ibn Sīnā.” In Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, pp. 570-571. New York: Springer, 2007. {online version} 2nd edition, 2014, pp. 1081-1083.
2008
“The Islamic Scientific Manuscript Initiative (ISMI): Towards a Sociology of the Exact Sciences. In Islam” (with F. J. Ragep). In A Shared Legacy: Islamic Science East and West. Homage to Professor J. M. Millàs Vallicrosa, edited by Emilia Calvo, Mercè Comes, Roser Puig, and Monica Rius, 15-21. Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 2008. {pdf}
“al-Jaghmīnī.” In New Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Noretta Koertge, vol. 4, 20-22. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons/Thomson Gale, 2008.
2004
“The Astronomical and Cosmological Works of Ibn Sīnā: Some Preliminary Remarks” (with F. J. Ragep). In Sciences, techniques et instruments dans le monde iranien (Xe–XIXe siècle), edited by N. Pourjavady and Ž. Vesel, 3-15. Tehran, 2004.
1981
“Select Films on the Arab World.” In The Arab World and Arab-Americans: Understanding a Neglected Minority , edited by Sameer Y. Abraham and Nabeel Abraham, 91-95. Detroit: Wayne State University, Center for Urban Studies, 1981.
2019
“Review of Teaching and Learning the Sciences in Islamicate Societies (800-1700) by Sonja Brentjes” Isis 110 (December 2019): 798-800.{publisher website}
2011
English trans. (with assistance of F. Wallis) of Ernest Renan’s “ L’Islamisme et la science ,” a lecture presented at La Sorbonne, 29 March 1883. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License, Copyright 2011 by Sally P. Ragep. (Translated into Turkish as “İSLAM VE BİLİM” by Zehra Bilgin 2021)
Keynote Addresses
2013
“What’s in a School? Marāgha and its Historiographical Implications” (with F. J. Ragep). Conference “Maragha and its Scholars: the Intellectual Culture of Medieval Marāgha, ca 1250-1550,” Istanbul, 6‑8 Dec. 2013
“The Other Transmission, or How Did Muslims Manage to Transfer Astronomical Knowledge over Fifty Generations?” (with F. J. Ragep). Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop, Notre Dame Univ., 12‑16 June 2013
2010
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ: Its Importance for the History
of Science and Islamic Civilization,” invited plenary lecture,
Conference “Koneurgench Turkmen State and Central Asia in the
First Half of the XIII Century,” 1-3 Dec. 2010, Dashoguz,
Turkmenistan https://reporter.mcgill.ca/in-search-of-jaghmin/
Talks and Conference Presentations
2021
“Shīrāzī’s Attitude Toward Philosophy: Some Preliminary Observations” (with F. Jamil Ragep), paper presented at the International Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī Symposium, sponsored by Sivas Cumhuriyet University and Istanbul Medeniyet Üniversitesi, 13-14 October 2021 (virtual)
2019
“ISMI Projesinin Yeni Evi” [A New Home for the ISMI Project], Hands On Workshop, Istanbul Medeniyet University, December 28, 2019
“Islamic Scientific Manuscripts: Premodern Interweaving and Modern Unraveling,” paper presented at the 12th Annual Schoenberg Symposium on “Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age: Hooking Up,” Rare Book Department of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, the University of Pennsylvania November 21-23, 2019
2018
“Editing Islamic Scientific Manuscripts: Challenges and Specificities,” paper presented with F. Jamil Ragep at the workshop “Islamic Paleography & Codicology,” McGill University, Montreal, 10-14 Sept. 2018
“Science Teaching in the Pre-Modern World: An Empirical Approach,” paper presented at the workshop “ Science Teaching in Pre-Modern Societies,” McGill University, Montreal, 24-26 May 2018
“Two Scientific Textbooks in Islam that (Nevertheless) Persisted,” paper presented at “The 2018 Morris W. Offit Symposium on Muslims, Christians, and Jews around the Mediterranean,” Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 9 March 2018
2017
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ and its Extensive Commentary Tradition,” paper presented at the “International Symposium on Science Teaching in Transition During the 18th-19th Century Islamic World, Istanbul, Turkey, 14-15 Dec. 2017. Co-sponsored by Medeniyet University and the McGill Centre for Islam and Science
“An Historical Overview of Science Education in the Islamic World,” paper presented at the workshop “Science Education in the Islamic World,” Hamid bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar, 9-10 Dec. 2017
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ and its Extensive Commentary Tradition: Past Teaching of Theoretical Astronomy within Islamic Societies,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in the panel entitled “Islamic Science in Theory, Teaching, and Practice,” Toronto, ON, 9-12 Nov. 2017
“The Teaching of Islamic Science in Premodern Islam,” colloquium talk, Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 31 Oct. 2017
2016
“Science Textbooks from the Later Period of the Khwārizm Shāhs,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) in the panel entitled “Construction of Scientific Knowledge,” Boston, MA, 17-20 Nov. 2016
“Situating Jaghmīnī’s Qanuncha: A Prequel for Exploring Its Influence in South Asia,” paper presented at the workshop on “Scientific and Rationalist Traditions in Muslim India,” University of California, Berkeley, 22 Oct. 2016
“From Squiggles to Events: Making Manuscripts Confess their Secrets” (with F.J. Ragep), invited “work in progress” talk, McGill Digital Humanities, 13 April 2016
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ : An Islamic Introduction to Ptolemaic Astronomy,” invited paper at a workshop held at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, NYU, New York, 15 March 2016
“The Islamic Scientific Manuscripts Initiative: Status of the Project,” presentation at the workshop: “Working with ISMI,” Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin, 29 Feb. 2016
2015
“An Historical Overview of Critical Issues in Science Teaching in Islam,” paper presentation at the workshop “Science Teaching in Contemporary Islamic Societies,” McGill University, 24 Oct. 2015
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ & Islamic Scientific Pedagogy,” invited lecture, University of California Berkeley, 19 March 2015
2014
“The Teaching of Theoretical Astronomy in Ottoman Lands,” paper presentation at the “International Conference of Ottoman Scholarship from Sahn-ı Seman to Darülfünun: Scholars, Institutions and Intellectual Products I: From the Conquest of Istanbul to the Establishment of the Süleymaniye Medreses,” Istanbul University, Faculty of Theology, 19-21 Dec. 2014
“The Teaching of Theoretical Astronomy in Premodern Islam,” paper presentation at “Disciples and Masters: 39th Kölner Mediavistentagung,” an international colloquium at the Thomas-Institute, University of Cologne, Germany, 9-12 Sept. 2014
2012
“The Open Mind Database of the Islamic Scientific Manuscript Initiative (ISMI),” invited presentation, McGill Digital Humanities, 13 Dec. 2012 (with Dirk Wintergruen, Robert Casties [Max Planck Institute for the History of Science] and Jamil Ragep [McGill])
“The 19th-century Dialogue between Ernest Renan and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani,” guest lecture, ISLA 355 (Modern History of the Middle East), McGill University, Winter 2012
“The RaSI Database: A Tool for Historical and Sociological Research,” invited paper presentation at The Eighth Islamic Manuscript Conference (TIMA), 8-11 July 2012, Cambridge, UK
“Biography of Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī” (with Amir Gamini and F. Jamil Ragep), Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shīrāzī Workshop, McGill University, 11-12 June 2012
2011
“Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ and Tusi’s Tadkhira: Pedagogical Considerations,” paper presentation at The Scientific and Philosophical Heritage of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Tehran, Iran, 23-24 Feb. 2011
2010
“Rational Sciences in Islam,” paper presented at the annual meeting of the History of Science Society in the panel “Global Histories of Science: Exploring New Resources on the Web,” Montreal, 4-7 Nov. 2010
2009
“The Astronomical Commentary Tradition: Do Numbers Count?” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) in the panel entitled “The Rational Sciences in Islam” (RaSI) Database: Introduction and Preliminary Findings,” Boston, MA, 23 Nov. 2009
“Fifteenth-Century Astronomy in the Islamic World,” paper presented at workshop “Before Copernicus: The Cultures and Contexts of Scientific Learning in the Fifteenth Century,” at McGill University, 13-15 Aug. 2009
2007
Participant in book-project workshops on the Fifteenth-Century Background to Copernicus, held at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, 13-15 Dec. 2006 and 6-8 Aug., 2007
2005
“The Importance of the Tradition of Jaghmīnī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ for the History of Science and Islamic Civilization,” paper presented at the 22nd International Congress of History of Science, Beijing, China, 24-30 July 2005
“The Role of Databases for the Exact Sciences in Islam,” paper presented at The 1st International Conference on History of the Exact Sciences Along the Silk Road, Xian, China, 31 July-3 Aug. 2005
2004
“al-Jaghmīnī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ: Its Importance for the History of Science and Islamic Civilization,” public lecture presented in Isfahan, Iran, May 2004
“Towards a Sociology of the Exact Sciences in Islam: The Role of Databases.” Paper presentation (with F. J. Ragep) at the workshop panel “La science dans les sociétés islamiques,” Rabat, Morocco, 14-16 April 2004
1998
“The Astronomy of Ibn Sīnā” (with F. J. Ragep), invited talk at The Second International Conference on “The History of Science in the Iranian World,” Tehran, Iran, 7-9 June 1998
Peer reviews for journals: Nazariyat Journal for the History of Islamic Philosophy and Sciences , 2022; ISIS, 2021; ISIS, 2019; SCIAMVS: Sources and Commentaries in the Exact Science, 2018
Chair/Organizer/Commentator of a panel entitled “New Perspectives on Science in Pre-Modern Islam” (Hasan Umut, Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan, and Fateme Savadi) at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science (CSHPS), Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, 27-29 May 2017
Member, Scientific Committee, International Tashkubrīzādah Symposium, Istanbul, 18-20 November 2016
Co-Organizer (with Asad Q. Ahmed and F. J. Ragep): Workshop, “Scientific and Rationalist Traditions in Muslim India,” 8 participants, 22 Oct. 2016, Univ. of California, Berkeley (part of SSHRC-funded project “Science Teaching in Pre-modern and Modern Islamic Societies”)
Co-Organizer (with Lorraine Daston and F. J. Ragep): Workshop, “Working with ISMI: Scholars Take Stock of a New Tool,” 11 participants, 29 Feb.-1 March 2016, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Berlin (part of SSHRC-funded project “Science Teaching in Pre-modern and Modern Islamic Societies”)
Co-Organizer (with Anila Asghar): Workshop, “Science Teaching in Contemporary Islamic Societies,” 14 participants, 22-24 Oct. 2015, McGill University, Montreal (part of SSHRC-funded project “Science Teaching in Pre-modern and Modern Islamic Societies”)
Invited moderator of a session entitled “Science and Islam” (Robert Morrison, George Saliba, and F. Jamil Ragep) at the Symposium “Science Before Science,” Bowdoin College (Maine), 27 Feb. 2015
Panel Chair, “Rethinking the Emergence of Islamic Science,” History of Science Annual Meeting, Montreal, 4-7 Nov. 2010 [5 panelists]
Invited Advisor, Experts Meeting on the “Establishment of a History of Arabic and Islamic Science Project”, co-sponsored by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia and the Library of Congress, Washington, DC in cooperation with UNESCO, London, UK, 23-24 June 2008
Panel Member, “The ISMI and PIPDI Database Projects,” Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna, India, Dec. 2007
Secretary, Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies (IUHPS); term 2005-2009. The Commission has over 154 members from 30 countries. I developed and maintained the website in addition to producing the Commission Newsletters.
Facilitator, University of Oklahoma (Center for Peace Studies, International Programs Center) at the conference on “Regional Cooperation for Water Management” [in the Middle East],” Damascus, Syria, 13-14 Feb. 2004
Managing Editor (with Moustafa Mawaldi and F. J. Ragep), Journal for the History of Arabic Science, Aleppo, Syria, 2003-2011
Translator and Editor, The Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria (translating materials from Arabic into English, including the Institute’s informational brochure [83 pages] and newsletters), 2003-2011
Invited participant, seminar on the study of the history of Islamic science in the United States, Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan, 26 Oct. 1999
Compiled information on instruments for a database of Harvard University’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, 1988