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Father of Chemistry Honored at King Salman Science Oasis

Jabir ibn Hayyan conducted experiments and discovered essential chemical compounds that continue to be used today - SPA
Jabir ibn Hayyan conducted experiments and discovered essential chemical compounds that continue to be used today - SPA
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Father of Chemistry Honored at King Salman Science Oasis

Jabir ibn Hayyan conducted experiments and discovered essential chemical compounds that continue to be used today - SPA
Jabir ibn Hayyan conducted experiments and discovered essential chemical compounds that continue to be used today - SPA

Jabir ibn Hayyan, a renowned Muslim scientist, known as the "father of chemistry" for his pioneering contributions to the field is being honored at the STEAM 2024 Science and Technology Festival at the King Salman Science Oasis.
Born in 721AD, he conducted experiments and discovered essential chemical compounds that continue to be used today.
The renowned scholar Ibn Khaldun recognized Ibn Hayyan's immense contributions, referring to him as "the imam of chemistry writers". In fact, chemistry itself was sometimes called "the science of Jabir" in honor of his groundbreaking work, according to SPA.
Ibn Hayyan's innovative work, including the distillation process, significantly impacted the development of chemistry both in the Islamic world and in the West.
His writings were translated into Latin to spread knowledge and ideas far and wide.
Among his notable discoveries are hydrochloric acid (spirit of salt), sulfuric acid (oil of vitriol), gold water (royal water), and silver nitrate (hell's stone). He also explored practical applications of chemistry, such as steel production, waterproofing, and artificial pearl creation.

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Studies on Pigeon-Guided Missiles, Swimming Abilities of Dead Fish Among Ig Nobles Winners 

A pigeon takes flight in front of Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
A pigeon takes flight in front of Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
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Studies on Pigeon-Guided Missiles, Swimming Abilities of Dead Fish Among Ig Nobles Winners 

A pigeon takes flight in front of Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)
A pigeon takes flight in front of Buckingham Palace in London, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP)

A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.

Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think.

Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.

“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.

The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of necrophilia in mallard ducks.

“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”

After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.

Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I'm bored.” The awards ceremony was also broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy's Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.

The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people's heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone's hair in the Southern Hemisphere.

Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.

“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”

James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.

“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”