George Saliba

George Saliba is a Palestinian Christian Professor of Arabic and Islamic Science at the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University, New York, United States, where he has been working since 1979.Saliba received his Bachelor of Science (1963) in mathematics and a Master of Arts (1965) from the American University of Beirut; he earned a Master of Science degree in Semitic languages and a doctorate in Islamic sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. He has received a number of awards and honors, including the History of Science Prize given by the Third World Academy of Science in 1993, and the History of Astronomy Prize in 1996 from the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science.In his website he writes about himself: "I study the development of scientific ideas from late antiquity till early modern times, with a special focus on the various planetary theories that were developed within the Islamic civilization and the impact of such theories on early European astronomy."Saliba has been doing research about possible transfer of mathematical and astronomical knowledge from the Islamic world to Europe during the 15-16th centuries.In a documentary Columbia Unbecoming he, together with some other Columbia professors, including Joseph Massad, was accused of presenting anti-Israel viewpoints in their classes and stifling the dissenting opinions.[1] Saliba rejected the accusation and published a rebuttal in Columbia Spectator (November 3, 2004) to that effect