Journalist Shabnam Nasimi claim that European math and science discoveries are memorialised with individual names, while “when someone from India, Persia, or the Muslim world discovers the exact same thing, we just give it a boring generic name”. This video demonstrates Nasimi’s claim is untrue; non-European science & math discoveries erased are not erased.
Media credits
author, Unknown author. English: Passport Photograph of Ramanujan Created in 1913, 1913. https://mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/manuscripts/uv/view.php?n=Add.Ms.a.94.7#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=6&xywh=-2849%2C-273%2C9238%2C5258. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Srinivasa_Ramanujan-Add._MS_a94_version2_(cropped).jpg.
Brothers, Harlan. “Pascal’s Triangle: The Secret Within.” Medium, 28 February 2026. https://sciencespectrumu.com/pascals-triangle-the-secret-within-3d525d88048d.
Christies.com. English: JAMSHID BIN MAS’UD BIN MAHMUD AL-TABIB AL-KASHI KNOWN AS GHIYATH (D. 1429 AD): MIFTAH AL-HISAB, 31 May 1656. https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-6162908. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jamshid_bin_Mas%27ud_bin_Mahmud_al-Tabib_al-Kashi,_known_as_Ghiyath_(d._1429);_Miftah_al-Hisab_signed_ibn_Muhammad_Mu%27min_Taj_al-Din_al-Shirazi,_Iran,_dated_31_May_1656.jpg.
FRCP, Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin. English: This Clay Tablet Narrates a Geometric-Algebraic Theory of How to Make a Solution for a Mathematical Problem. The Conclusion Applies a Theory Very Similar to the Pythagorean Theorem. From Tell Tell al-Dhabba’i, Iraq. Old-Babylonian Period, 2003-1595 BCE. On Display at the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq. IM67118., 14 March 2019. Own work. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clay_tablet,_mathematical,_geometric-algebraic,_similar_to_the_Pythagorean_theorem._From_Tell_al-Dhabba%27i,_Iraq._2003-1595_BCE._Iraq_Museum.jpg.
Huī, Yáng. English: Drawing of Pascal’s Triangle Published in C.E.1303 by Zhu Shijie (C.E.1260-1320), in His Si Yuan Yu Jian. It Was Called Jia Xian Triangle or Yanghui Triangle by the Chinese, after the Mathematician Jia Xian & Yang Hui., between and 1320date QS:P,+1500- -00T00:00:00Z/6,P1319,+1260-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1320-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 1260. w:en:Image:Yanghui_triangle.gif. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yanghui_triangle.gif.
Huygens, Christiaan. English: From Christiaan Huygens 1678 Traité de La Lumiere, Showing How Waves Lead to Refraction., 1678. Christiaan Huygens 1678 Traité de la Lumiere. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Huygens_Refracted_Waves.png.
Kneller, James Thronill after Sir Godfrey. English: Portrait of Isaac Newton (1642-1727). This Is a Copy of a Painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller (1689). Oilmedium QS:P186,Q296955, 1689date QS:P571,+ – -00T00:00:00Z/9 1689. Institute for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GodfreyKneller-IsaacNewton-1689.jpg.
Sahl, Ibn. English: Milli MS 867, Fol. 7r, Milli Library, Tehran (Ibn Sahl’s Treatiser on Optics)., reproduction); age of manuscript unknown (Ottoman era 1990. Milli MS 867, fol. 7r, Milli Library, Tehran. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ibn_Sahl_manuscript.jpg.
Wali, AIP Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, Gift of Kameshwar. English: Portrait of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, unknown. https://repository.aip.org/portrait-chandrasekhar. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Subrahmanyan_Chandrasekhar.jpg.
“File:Chinese Pythagoras.Jpg – Wikimedia Commons.” WikiCommons, 11 April 2005. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_pythagoras.jpg.
“The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.” Compressed data. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, n.d. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666184/.
Sources
A. I., Sabra. “Ibn Al-Haytham’s Revolutionary Project in Optics.” The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives. Edited by J. P. Hogendijk and A. I. Sabra. MIT Press, 2003.
@AlbertTheGamer-gk7sn. “Comment on Western Discoveries vs the Rest of the World. #history #india #learn #school #maths.” YouTube, 2 June 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RaIyGKcgE.
Aydin, Nuh, and Lakhdar Hammoudi. Al-Kāshī’s Miftāḥ al-Ḥisab, Volume I: Arithmetic: Translation and Commentary. Springer International Publishing, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14950-5, http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-14950-5.
Bang, In. “Taiji and Pascal’s Triangle: Joachim Bouvet’s Christianized Interpretation of the Yijing.” Pages 75–98 in Global Yijing: Intercultural Encounters with World Religions and Thoughts. Edited by John Tsz-pang Lai. Springer Nature, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-9267-5_5, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-9267-5_5.
Cajori, Florian. A History of Mathematical Notations (Two Volume in One). Cosimo, Inc., 2011.
Dunford, Ellis. “Mathematical Results – Do Names Matter?” IMA, 11 April 2022. https://ima.org.uk/19127/mathematical-results-do-names-matter/.
Emch, Gerard G., R. Sridharan, and M. D. Srinivas. Contributions to the History of Indian Mathematics. Springer, 2005.
Evans, Brian. The Development of Mathematics Throughout the Centuries: A Brief History in a Cultural Context. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
Fowler, David. “The Binomial Coefficient Function.” The American Mathematical Monthly 103.1 (1996): 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00029890.1996.12004694.
Friedrich, Michael, and Cosima Schwarke, eds. “‘One-Volume Libraries’ and the Traditions of Learning in Medieval Arabic Islamic Culture.” Pages 171–206 in One-Volume Libraries: Composite and Multiple-Text Manuscripts. De Gruyter, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110496956-007, https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110496956-007/html.
Gupta, R.C. “Brahmagupta.” Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Edited by Helaine Selin. Springer Science & Business Media, 2008.
Hughes, Barnabas. “The Arithmetical Triangle of Jordanus de Nemore.” Historia Mathematica 16.3 (1989): 213–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/0315-0860(89)90018-9.
K., Srinivasa Rao. “Srinivasa Ramanujan.” Institute of Mathematical Sciences, 16 April 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120416085328/https://www.imsc.res.in/~rao/ramanujan.html.
Keller, Agathe. “On Sanskrit Commentaries Dealing with Mathematics (Fifth-Twelfth Century).” Looking at It from Asia: The Processes That Shaped the Sources of History of Science. Edited by Florence Bretelle-Establet. Springer Science & Business Media, 2010.
Klem-Musatov, Kamill, Henning C. Hoeber, Tijmen Jan Moser, and Michael A. Pelissier. Classical and Modern Diffraction Theory. SEG Books, 2016.
Mansfield, Daniel F. “Plimpton 322: A Study of Rectangles.” Foundations of Science 26.4 (2021): 977–1005. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-021-09806-0.
Pickover, Clifford. Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Plofker, Kim. Mathematics in India. Princeton University Press, 2009.
Raghunathan, M. S. “Some Highlights of Indian Contributions to Mathematics in the Twentieth Century.” Pages 1–14 in Contemporary Research in Mathematics from India. Edited by Gadadhar Misra. Springer Nature, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-6152-0_1, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-6152-0_1.
Rahman, Parvejur, and Sagufta Mehnaz. “International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research (IJFMR).” SSRN Journal (2024). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5054029, https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=5054029.
Rashed, Roshdi. “A Pioneer in Anaclastics: Ibn Sahl on Burning Mirrors and Lenses.” Isis 81.3 (1990): 464–91.
———. The Development of Arabic Mathematics: Between Arithmetic and Algebra. Vol. 156 of Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Edited by Robert S. Cohen. Springer Netherlands, 1994. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3274-1, http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-017-3274-1.
Sarhangi, Reza. “Geometric Constructions and Their Arts in Historical Perspective” (n.d.).
Selin, Helaine, ed. Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Netherlands, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7, http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7.
Shabnam Nasimi. “Western Discoveries vs the Rest of the World. #history #india #learn #school #maths.” YouTube, 2 June 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5RaIyGKcgE.
Shen, Kangshen, John N. Crossley, and Anthony Wah-Cheung Lun. The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Companion and Commentary. Oxford University Press, 1999.
Smith, Richard J. Mapping China and Managing the World: Culture, Cartography and Cosmology in Late Imperial Times. Routledge, 2013.
Takıcak, Müjdat, and Mertkan Şimşek. “A Practical Rule of Divisibility By 7 in Uqlīdisī’s Kitāb al-Fuṣūl Fī al-Ḥisāb al-Hindī.” Journal of Humanistic Mathematics 15.2 (2025): 4–36. https://doi.org/10.5642/jhummath.IFFN4961.
Weber, Albrecht. Indische Studien. Zeitschrift für die Kunde des indischen Alterthums. Im Vereine mit mehreren Gelehrten. Ferd. Dümmler’s Verlagsbuchhandlung. Harrwitz und Gofsmann, 1863.
Woepke, Franz. Extrait Du Fakhrî: Traité d’algèbre Par Aboû Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhaçan Alkarkhî ; Précédé d’un Mémoire Sur l’algèbre Indéterminée Chez Les Arabes. Imprimerie impériale, 1853.
“Mathematics Version 2.0 – Curriculum – Victorian Curriculum.” Victorian Curriculum, n.d. https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/mathematics/mathematics-version-2-0/curriculum/f-10#level=8&search=a2a106fb-3f69-423b-99c3-0d80c6b0f0ad.
“Mathematics Version 2.0 – Curriculum – Victorian Curriculum.” Victorian Curriculum, n.d. https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/mathematics/mathematics-version-2-0/curriculum/f-10#level=7&search=719013b2-9dff-49ff-8439-68d3ecfdb313.
“The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing.” Compressed data. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, n.d. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666184/.
