The document discusses the history and origins of rockets. It notes that rockets were first invented in China in the 15th century using gunpowder, and that rocket technology spread to Europe through the Mongols. It also discusses an important 13th century Arabic text on gunpowder recipes including rockets, and improvements to rocket design in the 19th century by British Colonel Edward Mounier Boxer.

2.  A windmill is a machine that converts
the energy of wind into rotational energy
by means of vanes called sails or blades.
 The windmill was invented in 634 for a
Persian caliph.
 Initially was used to grind corn and
draw up water for irrigation.
 In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the
seasonal streams ran dry, the only source
of power was the wind which blew steadily
from one direction for months.
 Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric
or palm leaves.
 It was 500 years before the first windmill
was seen in Europe.
 The majority of modern windmills take the
form of wind turbines used to generate
electricity, or windpumps used to pump
water, either for land drainage or to
extract groundwater.

4.  The technique of inoculation was not
invented by Jenner and Pasteur.
 It is believed likely that some form of
inoculation was developed in India or
China before the 16th century.
 The earliest documented examples of
vaccination are from India and China in
the 17th century, where vaccination with
powdered scabs from people infected with
smallpox was used to protect against the
disease.
 Smallpox used to be a common disease
throughout the world and 20% to 30% of
infected persons died from the disease.
Smallpox was responsible for 8% to 20%
of all deaths in several European
countries in the 18th century.
 But was devised in the Muslim world and
brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife
of the English ambassador to Istanbul in
1724.
 Children in Turkey were vaccinated with
cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at
least 50 years before the West discovered
it.

6.  A fountain pen is a nib pen that, unlike its
predecessor the dip pen, contains an
internal reservoir of water-based liquid ink.
The pen draws ink from the reservoir
through a feed to the nib and deposits it
on paper via a combination of gravity and
capillary action.
 The earliest historical record of a reservoir
pen dates to the 10th century.
 In 973, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of the
Maghreb, demanded a pen that would not
stain his hands or clothes, and was
provided with a pen that held ink in a
reservoir and delivered it to the nib,
 which could be held upside-down without
leaking, as recorded in Kitab al-Majalis wa
'l-musayarat, by Qadi al-Nu'man al-
Tamimi.
 No details of the construction or
mechanism of operation of this pen are
known, and no examples have survived.
 During the 1940s and 1950s, fountain pens
retained their dominance: early ballpoint
pens were expensive, were prone to leaks
and had irregular inkflow, while the fountain
pen continued to benefit from the
combination of mass production and
craftsmanship.
 This period saw the launch of innovative
models such as the Parker 51, the Sheaffer
Snorkel, and the Eversharp Skyline and
(later) Skyliner, while the Esterbrook J
series of lever-fill models with
interchangeable steel nibs offered
inexpensive reliability to the masses.
 By the 1960s, refinements in ballpoint pen
production gradually ensured its dominance
over the fountain pen for casual use.
 Fountain pens dating from the first half of
the 20th century are more likely to have
flexible nibs, suited to the favored
handwriting styles of the period.

7.  Other styles of fountain pen nibs include
Hooded Nibs (Examples of hooded nibs are
Parker 51, Parker 61, or the current (2007)
Parker 100, Hero 329), Inlaid Nibs (e.g.,
Sheaffer Targa or Sheaffer P.F.M) or
Integral Nib (Parker T-1 and Falcon, Pilot
Myu 701), which may also be ground to
have different writing characteristics.
 France, Germany, Austria, India, and the
United Kingdom, and are widely used by
young students in most private schools in
England and at least one private school in
Scotland.
Parker Duofold Senior in black hard rubber,
ca. 1924
Hooded nib of a Hero Pen
Gama Supreme Flat Top handmade
ebonite eyedropper
modern fountain pen writing in cursive script.

9.  Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally
served warm (but may be cool or cold),
that is made by combining ingredients
such as meat and vegetables with stock,
juice, water, or another liquid.
 The word soup comes from French soupe
("soup", "broth"), which comes through
Vulgar Latin suppa ("bread soaked in
broth") from a Germanic source, from
which also comes the word "sop", a piece
of bread used to soak up soup or a thick
stew.
 Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of
Ziryab (Blackbird)
 Came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th
century
 And brought with him the concept of the
three-course meal – soup.
 Ziryab started a vogue by changing
clothes according to the weather and
season.
 He suggested different clothing for
mornings, afternoons and evenings.
 by introducing the three-course meal
served on leathern tablecloths,
insisting that meals should be served in
three separate courses consisting of
soup, the main course, and dessert.
 He also introduced the use of crystal
as a container for drinks, which was
more effective than metal.

11.  A cheque (or check in American English) is
a document that orders a bank to pay
money from an account.
 The modern cheque comes from the Arabic
saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when
they were delivered, to avoid money having
to be transported across dangerous terrain.
 Muslim traders are known to have used the
cheque or ṣakk system since the time of
Harun al-Rashid (9th century) of the
Abbasid Caliphate.
 In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman
could cash a cheque in China drawn on his
bank in Baghdad.
 In the 13th century in Venice the bill of
exchange was developed as a legal device
to allow international trade without the need
to carry large amounts of gold and silver.
 By the 17th century, bills of exchange
were being used for domestic payments in
England.
 In 1717, the Bank of England pioneered
the first use of a pre-printed form. These
forms were printed on "cheque paper" to
prevent fraud.

12. A cheque with Thomas Jefferson as payee and payor from 1809
A cheque from 1905

13. A cheque from 1933
A cheque sample from Canada 2006

15.  A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or
other vehicle that obtains thrust from a
rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is
formed entirely from propellants carried
within the rocket before use.
 Chinese invented salt-petre gunpowder,
and used it in their fireworks.
 A problem for dating the first rocket flight
is that Chinese fire arrows can be either
arrows with explosives attached, or
arrows propelled by gunpowder.
 By the 15th century they had invented
both a rocket.
 Rocket technology was first known to
Europeans following its use by the
Mongols Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan
when they conquered parts of Russia,
Eastern, and Central Europe.
 Between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-
Rammah wrote al-furusiyyah wa al-
manasib al-harbiyya (The Book of Military
Horsemanship and Ingenious War
Devices), which included 107 gunpowder
recipes, 22 of which are for rockets.
 According to Ahmad Y Hassan, al-
Rammah's recipes were more explosive
than rockets used in China at the time.
 In 1865 the British Colonel Edward
Mounier Boxer built an improved versione
of the Congreve rocket placing two
rockets in one tube, one behind the other.