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Episode details

Radio 4,21 Jan 2010,30 mins

21/01/2010

Material World

Available for over a year

A thousand years ago, the centre of world science and invention was not in Europe but the Middle East. Muslim minds produced a flying machine in the 9th century, the first distillation system, surgical instuments familiar in a modern hospital, and the most accurate clock in 1,000 years. Gareth Mitchell visits the Science Museum in London and picks out a few exhibits from an exhibition of 1,001 inventions.

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