Oscar-winning actor and screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley has taken the starring role in a short feature film about the scientific heritage of Muslim civilization. The mini-movie, entitled “1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets”, accompanied a global touring exhibition which was previously open to the public at the Science Museum in London. The 1001 Inventions exhibition completed its record-breaking residency at London’s Science Museum with 400,000 visitors in June 2010 and a block buster residency at the iconic and historic Sultan Ahmed Square in Istanbul with 390,000 visitors. The exhibition is now open at the New York Hall of Science till April 2011.
In the movie, Sir Ben takes on the role of a mysterious and cantankerous librarian who takes a group of school children on an enlightening journey to meet pioneering scientists and engineers from the history of Muslim civilization. The librarian is then revealed to be 12th century engineering genius Al-Jazari.
