Modern Muslim Inventions

Muslims in the past led the way in inventions like watches, medical and navigational instruments, mechanical gadgets and the like. In the last 300 odd years these have declined, yet there are still some recent Muslim inventions. Here is a diverse sampling:

Real-time anti-fraud: In 2000, many of the core components of PayPal (used for web money transactions), including its real-time anti-fraud system, was designed by Bangladeshi Jawed Karim.

Moon landing: From 1967 to 1972, Farouk El-Baz from Egypt worked for NASA and was involved in the first Moon landings.

Space exploration: Kerim Kerimov from Azerbaijan was a key figure in early space exploration and one of the founders of the Soviet space program, one of the lead architects behind the first satellite (Sputnik 1), first human spaceflight (Vostok 1), launch of the first space docks and space stations.

Cricket: Bowling techniques like Doosra, Teesra, Chootha and reverse swing were developed by Pakistani bowlers in the 1990’s.

Non-glaring headlamp: Headlamp with continuous, long-distance illumination without glaring effects. Invented in Turkey by Prof Turhan Alçelik, in 2006.

Submarine: In 1720, Ottoman dockyard architect Ibrahim Efendi invented a working submarine.

Bridge Pavilion: Zaha Hadid, Iraqi architect known for many postmodern buildings. One of her most notable is the Bridge Pavilion, the first pavilion built over a bridge, which she constructed in Zaragoza for Expo 2008.