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Nidhal Guessoum (born September 6, 1960) is an Algerian astrophysicist. He is a professor at the
American University of Sharjah American University of Sharjah (abbreviated AUS; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية في الشارقة) is a private university in the United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 1997 by Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and ...
, United Arab Emirates. His research interests range from
gamma-ray A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically sh ...
astrophysics, such as positron-electron annihilation, nuclear gamma-ray lines, and
gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten millise ...
s, to
Islamic astronomy Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age (9th–13th centuries), and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middl ...
, i.e. crescent visibility, Islamic calendar, and prayer times at high latitudes, problems that have yet to be fully resolved. He has published a number of technical works and lectured internationally at many renowned universities (Cambridge, Oxford, Cornell, Wisconsin, and others). In addition to his academic work, he writes about issues related to science, education, the Arab world, and
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
. Guessoum is also a columnist for ''
Gulf News ''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was first launched in 1978, and is currently distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf Countries. Its online edition was launc ...
'' and ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'', and has made notable contributions to Nature Middle East. He has also appeared many times on international media outlets, including Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, France 2, ''Le Monde'', and others.


Education and academia

Guessoum attended Lycée Amara Rachid School in
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
and went on to earn a B.Sc. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Science and Technology of Algiers in 1982. He then went to the United States for graduate studies. He earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is ...
. His 1988 doctoral thesis, "Thermonuclear reactions of light nuclei in astrophysical plasmas", featured a recalculation of the rate of the fundamental reactions underlying the rate of energy production in the core of the Sun (in addition to neutrinos) as well as the rates of breakup reactions of light nuclei (protons and alphas particles on C, N, O, etc.) in various astrophysical environments, especially in accretion disks around compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars, where this is accompanied by gamma-ray line emission. After his Ph.D., he spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...
under the supervision of Reuven Ramaty, now famous for the astrophysical satellite RRHESSI named after him. He has also had made many visits to and maintained collaborations with several institutions, particularly in France. From 1990-1995, Guessoum worked at the University of Blida, Algeria. In 1995, he moved to the College of Technological Studies,
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
, where he stayed until 2000. Since that year, he has been based at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. He holds memberships with the
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
(IAU), the International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR), and the
Islamic Crescents Observation Project Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the main ...
(ICOP). For several years he was a regular collaborator for INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) at the Center for Space Radiation Studies in
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...
, France. He has produced several well-regarded papers on the problem of positron-electron annihilation in the milky-way galaxy, a still-open problem in high-energy astrophysics. His more recent work concerns gamma-ray burst phenomena.


Books and advocacy

Guessoum is a passionate advocate of re-instilling scientific methodology in Muslim culture. In 2010, he authored ''Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science''. In the book, he argued that modern science must be integrated into the Islamic worldview, including the theory of biological and human evolution, which he maintains does not contradict Islamic tenets and ethos. He insisted that the Muslim world should take "scientific questions—quantum questions—with utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity." As a critic of
Harun Yahya Adnan Oktar (; born 2 February 1956), also known as Adnan Hoca or Harun Yahya, is a Turkish religious sex cult leader, creationist/ anti-evolutionist, conspiracy theorist, preacher and pamphleteer.Filiu, ''Apocalypse in Islam'', 2011: p.171 In ...
, he has maintained that rejection of established scientific fact is "counter-productive and does not bode well for Muslims, whether with regard to science or
modernity Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissancein the "Age of Reas ...
, more generally." He has also worked hard to spread modern scientific knowledge in Arab-Muslim society. In particular, he co-authored a book on the crescent-based Islamic calendar (in two editions), insisting on taking modern astronomical knowledge and methodology fully on board when addressing the problem. He further coauthored four Arabic editions of ''The Story of the Universe – from primitive conceptions to the Big Bang''. In 2013 Guessoum wrote a commentary in ''
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...
'' showing the stark contrast between the state of astronomy in the Arab world during the golden age of Islamic civilization and criticizing Arab nations for not investing more money in astronomy research, which he suspects "is being neglected because of the strongly utilitarian Arab Muslim approach to science."


References


External links


Islam's Quantum Question: Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science

Nidhal Guessoum's Website

Nidhal Guessoum's YouTube Channel

Nidhal Guessoum is principal investigator of the "Islam & Science" project

Al-Kawn Show
Educational webcast broadcast in Arabic on YouTube, starring Nidhal Guessoum {{DEFAULTSORT:Guessoum, Nidhal 1960 births Algerian astrophysicists Algerian physicists Living people Critics of conspiracy theories 21st-century Algerian people Educational and science YouTubers