JEDDAH: In cooperation with ALJ Community Initiatives, 1001 Inventions opens for the public at its third stop in New York. After the great success at its first stop in London early this year, and the second stop in Istanbul in the middle of the same year, the 1001 Inventions Exhibition started welcoming guests early last week in New York, the third stop in the exhibition's global tour. The exhibition encompasses dozens of inventions that add to the knowledge of visitors, in addition to interactive displays, electronic games and 3-Ds that related to several scientific fields, such as engineering, medicine, astronomy and other fields. 1001 Inventions will be displayed in the US for 12 months and will tour several states. Visitors from different nationalities, cultures and age categories lined up to enjoy the outstanding exhibition, which discovers the Muslim scientific heritage and explores the role of Muslim world in the history of science, technology and arts. The 1001 Inventions Exhibition takes the visitors into a tour through its seven divisions to see replicas of the astonishing inventions of the Middle Age. The exhibition discloses the huge impact of the Muslim civilization on our today's life. At the beginning, visitors start their tour with a documentary titled “1001 Inventions and Library of Secrets”, which was specially prepared for the Exhibition. Displayed on a 7-meter height screen, the 13-minute documentary accompanies a group of children in a journey in which they discover the period mistakenly referred as the Dark Ages. Starring in the documentary is the Oscar winner actor Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays the role of 18th Century's Engineer Al Jazari. Through their journey in the documentary, the children discover a wealth of knowledge about the Muslim inventions in the period from the 7th to the 17th Centuries. The documentary won several international awards the US and Europe. Fadi Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, president of ALJ Community Initiatives International, announced that the exhibition is seeking to highlight the importance of the scientific inventions made during a period extended to 1,000 years, from the 7th to the 17th Centuries, and mistakenly referred to as the Dark Ages, while it was a period full of Muslim inventions. The Exhibition highlights the contributions of Muslim scientists in building the foundations of science and its impact on our current life. In its Dec. 6 issue, the New York Times mentioned that the Exhibition displays inventions of some of history's finest scientists and scholars once emerged from predominantly Muslim societies, extending from Spain to China. The newspaper interviewed Professor Salim Al-Hassani, chairman of FSTC and 1001 Inventions, and author of “1001 Inventions”. In addition, the New York Times interviewed Margaret Honey, president and chief executive of Queens Hall, who said that Queens is the logical place for displaying the 1001 Inventions.
