Islamic medicine back in limelight
No Nobel Prize in medicine doesn’t mean region lacks scientists, says official
dubai — In as little as 20 years, the UAE could well be celebrating its first ever Nobel Prize winner in the field of medicine.
For the second year in a row, Dubai opened the Nobel Museum Exhibition 2016 on Sunday, under the theme: ‘Exploring Life: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine’.
This is the first time that Noble Museum has dedicated an exhibition to the medical field.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Chairman of the Nobel Foundation’s Board of Directors, Carl-Henrik Heldin, said the Islamic world acted very early when it came to the advancement and contribution of medicine, and he is hopeful to see a Nobel Laureate from this part of the world very soon.
“I can see it happening in the next 10 to 20 years. We award new discoveries in medicine and they are almost always unanticipated. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) is doing important work in the field of medicine, work we’d like to see happening in the rest of the world.”
Dubai will now host the Nobel Museum Exhibition for the next 10 years following a partnership between MBRF and Nobel Foundation. This year, the free-to-the-public museum is based at the Children’s City in Dubai Creek Park and will remain open till March 21.
The exhibition will focus on specific areas of science such as chronic disease treatments, as well as the contribution of Islamic scientists in the medical field.
Why Islamic world missed Nobel prize
Alfred Nobel was born in 1833. In 1901 he established the Nobel Prize, but Heldin said if the prize was available “1,000 years ago”, we would have witnessed many Prize winners in the field of medicine from this part of the world.
“We regret the Award has only been around for 150 years because the world has lay witness to many successful Islamic scientists.”
In 936 AD, surgeon Al Zahrawi was born near Cordoba, Spain, when it was part of the Islamic Empire.
He is considered the greatest medieval surgeon to have appeared from the Islamic World, and is often described as the ‘father of surgery’.
In 1197 AD, botanist Ibn Al Baytar was born, and was regarded as one of the most accomplished botanical apothecary of Islamic Science.
In total, 10 Arabs have won Nobel prizes since they were instituted in 1901, but with Arab winners often compiled with Muslim winners, that takes the total 16 in all.
Among the winners include late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1994, and Yemen’s Tawakkol Karman, the first Arab woman to win, in 2011. Both were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaking on Sunday, MBRF Managing Director, Jamal bin Huwaireb, said the second installment of this museum will introduce visitors to seven fields in medicine including ‘Islamic Medicine’; ‘Inside Explorer’ (interactive tables showing what the body is built up of); ‘Seeing The Invisible’ (using microscopes to look at body); ‘The Cell’ (interactive installation allowing you to step into the human cell); ‘DNA’; ‘Diseases and Cures’; and ‘Alfred Nobel’.
“We want this museum to encourage our children to study medicine and improve the healthcare and research sector in the UAE,” he said. —
We regret the Award (Nobel Prize) has only been around for 150 years because the world has lay witness to many successful Islamic scientists.”
Carl-Henrik Heldin,
Chairman, Nobel Foundation’s Board of Directors