Book & Author
Jörg Matthias Determann: Space Science And The Arab World — Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East
By Dr Ahmed S. Khan
October 4, 2023 marked the 66 th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik – the world's first artificial satellite — that inaugurated the space age. In response to the Sputnik launch the United States established NASA and thus began a space race with the Russians during the cold war. For the past six decades USA (NASA), Russia (ROSCOSMOS), China (CNSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been the front runners in space exploration.
Today seventy countries — including many developing countries — around the world have space agencies. Many commercial entities have also ventured into space exploration. The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (2021) has opened new windows to glance into the distant undiscovered regions of Cosmos.
Among the top space stories of 2023 are the return to Earth of OSIRIS-REx; Europe’s new mission to Jupiter; India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to moon’s south pole; NASA’s Frank Rubio return to Earth after setting a US space record of spending 371 days in Space; Return of three astronauts from ISS to earth: NASA Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia's Andrei Fedyaev and the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Sultan al-Neyadi —the first Arab astronaut to spend an extended time in orbit, he is only the second UAE astronaut to visit ISS, in 2019 Hazza Al Mansoori completed a week-long mission to the space station.
The Arab astronauts who have visited space earlier include Sultan bin Salman Al Saud (1985, Saudi Arabia), Muhammed Faris (1987, Syria), Sara Sabry ( 2022, Egypt), Ali Al Qarni (Saudi Arabia, 2023) and Rayyanah Barnawi (2023). A number of Muslim astronauts — born in Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan — have visited space representing different space agencies. In October 2023, Namira Salim will become the first Pakistani to venture into space when she goes suborbital on a Virgin Galactic flight.
Islamic scientific contributions, especially in astronomy, in the Middle Ages (8th–14th centuries) were crucial antecedents to the European scientific renaissance that led to the present knowledge domain known as space science.
Space Science and the Arab World —Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East by Jorg Matthias Determann, is a well-researched book that contends that today’s Arab involvement in space science is an integral part of a modern enterprise that blends nationalism with globalism. The author identifies the individuals, institutions and national ideologies that enabled Arab astronomers and scientists to gain support for space exploration when their governments lacked interest. The author shows that the conquest of space became associated with national pride, security, and economic growth.
The book cover illustrates the 1985 space-shuttle flight of Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman—the first Arab and Muslim astronaut. The author discusses the achievements of the region's first modern astronomers, who include Syrians Yakub Sarruf and Faris Nimr, emerging in the 19th century. Collaboration between US East Coast universities and newer academic institutions in the Middle East led to the expansion of astronomical science in the Arab world. The author shows that by the 20 th century, Arab astronomers again started contributions towards global knowledge: Shadia Habbal of Damascus University emerged as a recognized expert on solar wind, and Farouk El-Baz of Egypt trained Apollo 11 astronauts for their historic moon landing.
Jorg Matthias Determann is Assistant Professor of History at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar. He has been a Postdoctoral Fellow at Zentrum Moderner Orient and Freie Universitat Berlin, and has earned a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, England. His other major works include Researching Biology and Evolution in the Gulf States: Networks of Science in the Middle East and Historiography in Saudi Arabia: Globalization and the State in the Middle East.
Reflecting on the scope of the book, the author notes: “This book is such an investigation, covering astronauts, observatories, rockets, satellites and other related topics. Unlike many other histories of Arab science, my book thus focuses on a period much later than what has often been described as the Islamic 'Golden Age'. The latter usually comes before the European Renaissance, which drew heavily on Muslim learning. In contrast, my book concentrates on Arab space exploration since the middle of the 19th century. I am thus covering a period that has often been labeled the nandah, meaning the 'renaissance' or 'awakening', especially in Arabic literature. This renaissance in turn presupposes a period of 'decline' or 'stagnation' following the 'Golden Age'. Like many other science historians, I do not find vague concepts such as 'Golden Age' or 'decline' helpful for my analysis. I will therefore refrain from labeling modern astronomers such as Alsubai as representatives of an Arab 'renaissance'. Nevertheless, I recognize vague and flexible concepts such as 'Golden Age' as being powerful ideas in themselves.”
Discussing the ‘The Arab Conquest of Space,’ the author observes: “In February 2013, the First Doha International Astronomy Conference opened at the Qatar National Convention Center. The co-chair Khalid Alsubai from Qatar Foundation (QF) took the podium and declared, 'Astronomy has come home.' After a keynote presentation by Martin Rees, the British Astronomer Royal, Alsubai presented 'Astronomy in Qatar'. He announced QF was planning to establish an astronomy and space center that would include an observatory and a planetarium. He also hoped that the Qatar Exoplanet Survey, which he headed, would discover two or three new extrasolar planets before the end of the year. A few months after the conference, and partly as a result of its success, Alsubai won a $5 million grant from the Qatar National Research Fund to expand his survey. The conference and grant marked highpoints for Alsubai, who had spent several years searching for extrasolar planets. In 2010, his team had put Qatar on the map of other worlds - and the map of global astronomical research - through the discovery of Qatar-lb. This was a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a star 550 light years away. “
Expounding on the development of rockets, the author states: “After all, rockets can be used more obviously for both military and civilian purposes. In English, 'missiles' are generally understood as weapons, but 'rockets' not necessarily so. In Arabic, however, the terms 'missiles' and 'rockets' are often conflated as sawarikh, the plural of sorfikh. Middle Eastern conflicts have indeed partly driven rocket programs in Egypt and Iraq as well as in non-Arab countries such as Iran and Israel. Regionally, arms races have hardly produced peace and stability, of course. However, to an individual government, rockets could still appear to contribute more to national security than astronomical observatories. With investments in rocket science being more obvious, growth in other areas of space science, especially astronomy, requires more explanation — and more lobbying by practitioners.”
Pointing out the lack of scholarship in Arab countries, the author observes: “In 2013, Nidhal Guessoum, an Algerian professor at the American University of Sharjah, published a four-page comment in the journal Nature entitled 'Time for an Arab astronomy renaissance'. He found that most Arab countries were generating fewer than ten papers in the field each year. Only Egypt produced similar numbers as Israel and Turkey — between forty and sixty.”
Discussing the nexus between science and national interests, the author states: “By the 2000s, the connection of science with national interests had become explicit even in Qatar, a latecomer in terms of nation-building. In 2009, Tidu Maini, an engineer and executive chairman of the Qatar Science and Technology Park, described his institution as a 'unique experiment in accelerating research in a nation where education and healthcare are the centerpiece of national strategy and intent.' Maini, who had worked as pro-rector of Imperial College London during the early 2000s, even projected his idea of national science back onto the regional past.
Reflecting on Egyptian efforts to gain technology, the author states: “After another war against Israel in 1956, Egyptian interest in this technology intensified. In a 1957 speech, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser said, 'We must restore the armed forces in light of our experience in the Suez War.' He stressed the importance of planes and rockets in particular. However, he stated that 'the issue is not that we are able to make rockets or planes. What is important is that these areas are the technology of the future, and we must allow the Egyptians to recognize that.' Under Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian missile industry was thus created, but not without significant foreign help.”
Using a number of case studies the book also answers the following questions: “Did nationalism endow certain space projects with enough prestige to offset questionable economic returns? How exactly did the idea of a past Golden Age serve as a resource for bringing about something like an 'Arab astronomy renaissance'? If national and regional resources alone were insufficient, to what extent did Arab space scientists need to search beyond their region for support? …Are regional organizations such as the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences able to overcome inter-state rivalries and provide synergies? Or would it be more beneficial for Arab scientists to collaborate with partners outside their countries and region?”
Space Science and the Arab World —Astronauts, Observatories and Nationalism in the Middle East by Jorg Matthias Determann is well researched via the use of an array of archival and original source material in multiple languages. The book is an exciting addition to the emerging genre of scholarship on science in the modern Middle East and essential reading for all interested in the modern history of astronomy in the Middle East.
[( Dr Ahmed S. Khan - dr.a.s.khan@ieee.org - is a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, 2017-2021. Professor Khan has 35 years of experience in Higher Education as professor of Electrical Engineering. He is the author of many academic papers, technical and non-technical books, and a series of books on Science, Technology & Society (STS); his most recent books are Mashriq-o-Mugrib Ki Mumtaz Shaksiaat ( Prominent Personalities of the East and the West), and Nanotechnology: Ethical and Social Implications.)]
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