After World War II, people realized that sharing secret keys was the most difficult thing to do. As a result, the notion of public key cryptography was developed in the late 1970s at MIT and Stanford Universities, basically to be able to share keys secretly at a lower cost. Since then, the industry of cryptography has blossomed.

Optics and vision theories were attractive topics of study for ancient scientists. Famous mathematicians as Euclid and Ptolemy adopted the theory of extramission; they interpreted vision as light emitted from the human eyes on the object, where the reflected rays help the individual perceive the color, shape, and size of the object. Another opposing theory was adopted by Aristotle and Galen; the intromission theory, where they thought that light was transmitted to the eye from the object or its surroundings.

One of the Arab scientists’ major contributions was in astrolabes. Astrolabes were primarily invented by the ancient Greeks in 225 BCE by Apollonius based on the theories and the findings of Hipparchus. The main uses of astrolabes were to tell time during day or night, to identify the time of sunrise and sunset, and the length of the day, and to locate celestial objects in the sky. These uses were essential for astronomers, astrologers, and of course navigators.

Ibn al-Nafis was a great Arab physician and surgeon, who also made contributions in astronomy, Islamic theology philosophy, history, and science fiction writing. Ibn al-Nafis recorded his own experiences, observations, and deductions in his books and manuscripts; 300 years after his original writings, some of his work was translated into Latin and became available to European physicians.

Inspired by his father, Magdi Yacoub decided to be a doctor, and the death of his aunt due to a heart disease motivated him to specialize as a cardiac surgeon. He studied medicine at Cairo University, then he moved to London. After more than 40 years of hard work and success, Dr. Magdi Yacoub is now one of the world’s leading cardiac surgeons. He was awarded the UK Order of Merit and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to medicine and surgery, becoming the first Egyptian to receive this prestigious award.

Al-Razi, known as “Rhazes” in the West, was a physician, philosopher, and scholar who made fundamental contributions to many scientific fields, especially medicine, pioneering in the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics, and ophthalmology. A special feature of his medical system was that he favored cure through correct and regulated food, avoiding excessive use of chemical drugs. Moreover, he tested remedies on animals in order to evaluate their effects before using them on humans.

Inbat al-miyah al-khafiya is an excellent manual on the supplies of hydraulic water; it was written by Abu Bakr Muhammed Al-Karaji. Besides its main interest in hydrology, it contains a discussion of many topics related to the geography of the globe, various remarks on soil types and nature, as well as paying great attention to surveying techniques.

The pioneer of modern surgery, known in the West as “Abulcasis”, Abu al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi was not just a pioneer in surgical innovation; he was also a great teacher whose medical texts had shaped the European surgical procedures up until the Renaissance and later.

Mostafa Kamal Mahmoud is an Egyptian scientist, thinker, author, and philosopher known for his role in bridging science and religious faith. He was trained as a doctor, but later chose a career as a journalist and author, traveling widely and writing on many subjects related to the philosophy of science and religion.

A land that is blessed with relatively moderate varying landscape of sea and desert, rivers and farmlands, Egypt is blessed with a beautiful environment. However, this beauty that we are so in awe with has been greatly endangered in the past decades with the rise of industries and lack of concern for sustainability, which has negatively impacted our planet.