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JOURNEY OF IDEAS

There is a chronic underrepresentation in Europe of children from migrant communities that choose to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering. Consequently an enormous reservoir of untapped talent exists that could be potentially mobilised for the benefit of society. The Space Awareness Programme is therefore devoting special attention to reaching out to schoolchildren in migrant. We regard it as important to show children in these communities that they belong to a rich heritage of distinguished scientists who helped shape the global history of astronomy and space sciences during the Islamic Golden Ages and beyond. The recent influx of refugees to Europe from the Middle East and Africa, the majority of which are Moslem, makes the need for such an approach more acute. Thus, more than ever it is necessary to build a bridge between the Islamic culture and Latin Europe. One way of doing this is to identify common roots between these apparently two different worlds. Astronomy as a field of knowledge common to humankind seems to be ideal to build this bridge. In this sense, the present astronomical heritage kit “The journey of the ideas” and its corresponding handbook will contribute to fill the 1000 years gap in the history of science by showing concrete examples of the influence of Islamic science on the development of modern astronomy, optics and space sciences. - Journey of Ideas author: Dr. Cecilia Scorza, Haus der Astronomy -