New Straits Time:

GERBERT d’Aurillac, the first French and 139th pope of the Catholic Church, was anointed Pope Sylvester II in 999 and remained so until his death in 1003. A prolific scholar and a teacher, he introduced and promoted Arabic numerals, arithmetic, mathematics and astronomy to Christian Europe. He disseminated to Europe the Islamic knowledge and learning he had gained by attending Islamic centres of higher learning in Spain and at al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco.

Muslims in Europe made major contributions to the fields of science, philosophy, and architecture [Reuters]