There is a fantastic effort underway to make a documentary about Abdus Salam. He won the 1979 Nobel prize in physics (along with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg) for his work on the unification of electromagnetic and weak forces. Coming out of rural Pakistan, his life story is phenomenal (read his Nobel biography here). I attended one of his talks in the late 1980s in Karachi and I still remember the excitement of talking with him for a few minutes after his lecture. It is truly wonderful that an excellent team of people is in charge of making his documentary. The director, Sabiha Sumar, has already made her mark with fiction and non-fiction films. I saw her film "Khamosh Pani" (Silent Waters) couple of years ago and it is very good and was well received by the critics - heck even the Village Voice liked it. One of the executive producers for the Salam documentary is Zakir Thaver. I've interacted with him for another project and I can safely say that he has the requisite energy to see this ambitious project through to the finish.
Check out information about the film here. However, please also consider making a donation for the project - however small or large. The target for the filmmakers is $500,000 - a modest budget for such an ambitious undertaking. Good luck to the filmmakers and I'm looking forward to the documentary.
What is Irtiqa?
Irtiqa is Salman Hameed's blog. A few years ago (before Facebook killed many of the blogs), it used to track stories of science & religion, especially those related to Muslim societies. That is still one of its foci, but now it dovetails more of Salman's interests including film, astronomy, science fiction, and science outreach in both Pakistan and the US.
Irtiqa literally means evolution in Urdu. But it does not imply only biological evolution. Instead, it is an all encompassing word used for evolution of the universe, biological evolution, and also for biological/human development. While it has created confusion in debates over biological evolution in South Asia, it provides a nice integrative name for this blog. For further information, contact Salman Hameed.
The blog banner is designed by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad. You can find all his creative endeavors at Orangie.
Salman Hameed
Salman is an astronomer and Associate Professor of Integrated Science & Humanities at Hampshire College, Massachusetts. Currently, he is working on understanding the rise of creationism in contemporary Islamic world and how Muslims view the relationship between science & religion. He is also working with historian Tracy Leavelle at Creighton University to analyze reconciliation efforts between astronomers and Native Hawaiians over telescopes on top of sacred Mauna Kea in Hawaii. He teaches “History and Philosophy of Science & Religion” with philosopher Laura Sizer, and “Science in the Islamic World”, both at Hampshire College. Salman and Laura Sizer are also responsible for the ongoing Hampshire College Lecture Series on Science & Religion, and you can find videos of all these lectures below. Contact information here.
LABELS
- Arab Spring
- art
- Astronomy
- Astronomy Pictures from Pakistan
- atheism
- beliefs of scientists
- Catholic Church and science
- creationism
- education
- education in muslim world
- ethics morality and science
- evolution
- faith and medicine
- film theater and television
- Friday Journal Club
- general
- history
- humor
- intelligent design
- Irtiqa Conversations
- Islam and Modernity
- islam and science
- Islamic Calendar
- islamic creationism
- Judaism and science
- media
- Muslims in Europe
- off topic
- Pakistan
- politics of science and religion
- posts by Nidhal Guessoum
- primates
- pseudoscience
- religion and environmentalism
- Religion and Health
- Religion and Technology
- Saturday Video
- science and Native religions
- science and religion books
- science fiction
- science in muslim world
- science of belief
- science of morality
- science religion and terrorism
- UFO religions
Blog Archive
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2008
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October
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- Film and Science conference in Chicago
- Death and Religion
- Dawkins shreds Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation
- Shia-Sunni war over websites
- A fantastic tool for learning (and teaching) about...
- Lawrence Krauss at Hampshire College on Thursday
- Documentary about Abdus Salam
- The planet of reason
- Taking care of dualism
- "Yazidis" in the Iraqi religious mix...
- Parrots and the Divine
- Religion and the Enlightenment?
- Science and Religion lecture series at Hampshire C...
- A more nuanced article on Pakistan
- Science & Religion conference in Amsterdam
- NYT review of "Nothing to be frightened of"
- Sagan and Reagan
- Bill Maher on the Daily Show
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October
(18)
1 comments:
exelent!
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