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Understanding Islam and Science

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This ScienceLives article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

Salman Hameed holds an endowed chair and is an assistant professor of integrated science and humanities at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. He also serves as director ofthe Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies.  The center focuses on investigating the roles and reception of science in Muslim societies, with the goal of understanding how social, political, historical and religious factors influence — and are influenced by — the methodologies and findings of science. It examines Muslim societies across the world, including diaspora or immigrant communities in the West. The center takes an interdisciplinary approach that includes the perspectives of history, sociology, philosophy, anthropology and science education.  Hameed was interviewed at the annual meeting of the AAAS held in Washington, DC in February 2011, after he participated in a session entitled, "The Challenge of Teaching Evolution in the Islamic World." Check out his responses to the ScienceLives 10 Questions in the video below.

Editor's Note: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. See the ScienceLives archive.