Editing History of science (section)

==Middle Ages{{anchor|Science in the Middle Ages}}==
In the Middle Ages, the classical learning continued in three major linguistic cultures and civilizations: Greek (the Byzantine Empire), Arabic (the Islamic world), and Latin (Western Europe).

===Byzantine Empire===
{{Further|Byzantine science | List of Byzantine inventions}}
[[File:ViennaDioscoridesFolio3v7Physicians.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The frontispiece of the [[Vienna Dioscurides]], which shows a set of seven famous physicians]]

====Preservation of Greek heritage====
The [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]] led to a deterioration of the classical tradition in the western part (or [[Greek East and Latin West|Latin West]]) of Europe during the 5th century. In contrast, the Byzantine Empire resisted the barbarian attacks and preserved and improved the learning.<ref>Lindberg, David. (1992) ''The Beginnings of Western Science''. University of Chicago Press. p. 363.</ref>

While the Byzantine Empire still held learning centers such as [[Constantinople]], Alexandria and Antioch, Western Europe's knowledge was concentrated in [[Monastery|monasteries]] until the development of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]] in the 12th centuries. The curriculum of monastic schools included the study of the few available ancient texts and of new works on practical subjects like medicine<ref>Linda E. Voigts, "Anglo-Saxon Plant Remedies and the Anglo-Saxons", ''Isis'', 70 (1979): 250–268; reprinted in Michael H. Shank, ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'', Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2000, pp. 163–181. {{ISBN|978-0-226-74951-8}}.</ref> and timekeeping.<ref>Faith Wallis, ''Bede: The Reckoning of Time'', Liverpool: Liverpool Univ. Pr., 2004, pp. xviii–xxxiv. {{ISBN|978-0-85323-693-1}}.</ref>

In the sixth century in the Byzantine Empire, [[Isidore of Miletus]] compiled Archimedes' mathematical works in the [[Archimedes Palimpsest]], where all Archimedes' mathematical contributions were collected and studied.

[[John Philoponus]], another Byzantine scholar, was the first to question Aristotle's teaching of physics, introducing the [[theory of impetus]].<ref>{{Cite book|chapter=Philoponus, John|editor=Craig, Edward|year=1998|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Volume 7, Nihilism-Quantum mechanics|pages=371–377, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0zPyhAxhDz8C&pg=PA373 373]|publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-415-18712-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Lindberg, David C. |year=2007|title=The Beginnings of Western Science: The European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, Prehistory to A.D. 1450|edition=2nd|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|pages=307–308|isbn=978-0-226-48205-7}} Link to [https://books.google.com/books?id=dPUBAkIm2lUC&pg=PA307 p. 307] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803040759/https://books.google.com/books?id=dPUBAkIm2lUC&pg=PA307 |date=3 August 2020 }} from Google's copy of 2008 reprint.</ref> The theory of impetus was an auxiliary or secondary theory of Aristotelian dynamics, put forth initially to explain projectile motion against gravity. It is the intellectual precursor to the concepts of inertia, momentum and acceleration in classical mechanics.<ref>{{cite book | last = Duhem | first = Pierre | contribution = Physics, History of | year = 1913 | title = The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, and History of the Catholic Church | editor-first = Charles G. | editor-last = Herbermann | editor-first2 = Edward A. | editor-last2 = Pace | editor-first3 = Condé B. | editor-last3 = Pallen | editor-first4 = John J. | editor-last4 = Wynne | editor-first5 = Thomas J. | editor-last5 = Shahan | volume = 12 | page = 51 | place = New York | publisher = Encyclopedia Press | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XSQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA51 | access-date = 19 April 2018 | archive-date = 3 January 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140103080018/http://books.google.com/books?id=XSQUAAAAYAAJ | url-status = live }}</ref> The works of John Philoponus inspired [[Galileo Galilei]] ten centuries later.<ref name=Lindberg1992p162>Lindberg, David. (1992) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dPUBAkIm2lUC&pg=PA162 The Beginnings of Western Science]''. University of Chicago Press. p. 162.</ref><ref>{{Cite book| chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/| title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter=John Philoponus| publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University| year=2018| access-date=11 April 2018| archive-date=22 April 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422010906/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/| url-status=live}}</ref>

====Collapse====
During the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, a number of Greek scholars fled to North Italy in which they fueled the era later commonly known as the "[[Renaissance]]" as they brought with them a great deal of classical learning including an understanding of botany, medicine, and zoology. Byzantium also gave the West important inputs: John Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian physics, and the works of Dioscorides.<ref>Lindberg, David. (1992). ''The Beginnings of Western Science''. University of Chicago Press. p. 162.</ref>

===Islamic world===
{{Further|Science in the medieval Islamic world|Timeline of science and engineering in the Muslim world}}
[[File:Islamic MedText c1500.jpg|thumb|upright| right | 15th-century manuscript of [[Avicenna]]'s ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''.]]
This was the period (8th–14th century CE) of the [[Islamic Golden Age]] where commerce thrived, and new ideas and technologies emerged such as the importation of [[papermaking]] from China, which made the copying of manuscripts inexpensive.

====Translations and Hellenization====
The eastward transmission of Greek heritage to Western Asia was a slow and gradual process that spanned over a thousand years, beginning with the Asian conquests of [[Alexander the Great]] in 335 BCE to the [[Timeline of Islamic history|founding of Islam in the 7th century CE]].<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> The birth and expansion of Islam during the 7th century was quickly followed by its [[Hellenization]]. Knowledge of [[Science in classical antiquity|Greek conceptions of the world]] was preserved and absorbed into Islamic theology, law, culture, and commerce, which were aided by the translations of traditional Greek texts and some [[Syriac language|Syriac]] intermediary sources into [[Arabic language|Arabic]] during the 8th–9th century.

====Education and scholarly pursuits====
[[File:Cour mosquee Suleymaniye Istanbul.jpg|thumb|[[Süleymaniye Mosque]]]]
[[Madrasa]]s were centers for many different religious and scientific studies and were the culmination of different institutions such as mosques based around religious studies, housing for out-of-town visitors, and finally educational institutions focused on the natural sciences.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Moosa|first=Ebrahim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ei9ZBwAAQBAJ&dq=Madrasa+history&pg=PP1|title=What Is a Madrasa?|date=2015-04-06|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-1-4696-2014-5|access-date=25 November 2021|archive-date=30 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730040037/https://books.google.com/books?id=ei9ZBwAAQBAJ&dq=Madrasa+history&pg=PP1|url-status=live}}</ref> Unlike Western universities, students at a madrasa would learn from one specific teacher, who would issue a certificate at the completion of their studies called an [[Ijazah]]. An Ijazah differs from a western university degree in many ways one being that it is issued by a single person rather than an institution, and another being that it is not an individual degree declaring adequate knowledge over broad subjects, but rather a license to teach and pass on a very specific set of texts.<ref name="barker2017">{{Cite journal|last=Barker|first=Peter|date=2017-12-15|title=The Social Structure of Islamicate Science|url=https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/article/view/1259|journal=Journal of World Philosophies|volume=2|issue=2|issn=2474-1795|access-date=24 November 2021|archive-date=24 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124005530/https://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp/article/view/1259|url-status=live}}</ref> Women were also allowed to attend madrasas, as both students and teachers, something not seen in high western education until the 1800s.<ref name="barker2017" /> Madrasas were more than just academic centers. The [[Süleymaniye Mosque|Suleymaniye Mosque]], for example, was one of the earliest and most well-known madrasas, which was built by [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] in the 16th century.<ref name="architecturecourses2021">{{Cite web|title=Süleymaniye Mosque, Turkey|url=https://www.architecturecourses.org/s%C3%BCleymaniye-mosque-turkey|access-date=2021-11-24|website=architecturecourses.org|archive-date=24 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124005536/https://www.architecturecourses.org/s%C3%BCleymaniye-mosque-turkey|url-status=live}}</ref> The Suleymaniye Mosque was home to a hospital and medical college, a kitchen, and children's school, as well as serving as a temporary home for travelers.<ref name="architecturecourses2021" />

Higher education at a madrasa (or college) was focused on Islamic law and religious science and students had to engage in self-study for everything else.<ref name="lindberg2007h" /> And despite the occasional theological backlash, many Islamic scholars of science were able to conduct their work in relatively tolerant urban centers (e.g., [[Baghdad]] and [[Cairo]]) and were protected by powerful patrons.<ref name="lindberg2007h" /> They could also travel freely and exchange ideas as there were no political barriers within the unified Islamic state.<ref name="lindberg2007h" /> Islamic science during this time was primarily focused on the correction, extension, articulation, and application of Greek ideas to new problems.<ref name="lindberg2007h" />

====Advancements in mathematics====
Most of the achievements by Islamic scholars during this period were in mathematics.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> [[Mathematics in the medieval Islamic world|Arabic mathematics]] was a direct descendant of Greek and Indian mathematics.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> For instance, what is now known as [[Arabic numerals]] originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians made several key refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of [[Decimal separator|decimal point]] notation. Mathematicians such as [[Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi]] (c. 780–850) gave his name to the concept of the [[algorithm]], while the term [[algebra]] is derived from ''al-jabr'', the beginning of the title of one of his publications.<ref>[[Gerald J. Toomer|Toomer, Gerald]] (1990). "Al-Khwārizmī, Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 7. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. {{ISBN|978-0-684-16962-0}}.</ref> Islamic trigonometry continued from the works of Ptolemy's ''[[Almagest]]'' and Indian ''[[Siddhānta Shiromani|Siddhanta]]'', from which they added [[trigonometric functions]], drew up tables, and applied trignometry to spheres and planes. Many of their engineers, instruments makers, and surveyors contributed books in applied mathematics. It was in [[Islamic astronomy|astronomy]] where Islamic mathematicians made their greatest contributions. [[Al-Battani]] (c. 858–929) improved the measurements of [[Hipparchus]], preserved in the translation of [[Ptolemy]]'s ''Hè Megalè Syntaxis'' (''The great treatise'') translated as ''[[Almagest]]''. Al-Battani also improved the precision of the measurement of the precession of the Earth's axis. Corrections were made to Ptolemy's [[geocentric model]] by al-Battani, [[Ibn al-Haytham]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosen |first=Edward |year=1985 |title=The Dissolution of the Solid Celestial Spheres|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=19–21 |doi=10.2307/2709773|jstor=2709773 }}</ref> [[Averroes]] and the [[Maragheh observatory|Maragha astronomers]] such as [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]], [[Mu'ayyad al-Din al-Urdi]] and [[Ibn al-Shatir]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rabin|first=Sheila|url=http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/copernicus/index.html|title=Nicolaus Copernicus|journal=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]|year=2004|access-date=24 June 2012|archive-date=15 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715113006/http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/stanford/entries/copernicus/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |author-link=George Saliba |year=1994 |title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8147-8023-7 |pages=254, 256–257 }}</ref>

Scholars with geometric skills made significant improvements to the earlier classical texts on light and sight by Euclid, Aristotle, and Ptolemy.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> The earliest surviving Arabic treatises were written in the 9th century by [[Al-Kindi|Abū Ishāq al-Kindī]], [[Qusta ibn Luqa|Qustā ibn Lūqā]], and (in fragmentary form) Ahmad ibn Isā. Later in the 11th century, [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (known as Alhazen in the West), a mathematician and astronomer, synthesized a new theory of vision based on the works of his predecessors.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> His new theory included a complete system of geometrical optics, which was set in great detail in his ''[[Book of Optics]]''.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/><ref>[https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hZvL5eYAAAAJ&hl Sameen Ahmed Khan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305131051/http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hZvL5eYAAAAJ&hl |date=5 March 2016 }}, Arab Origins of the Discovery of the Refraction of Light; Roshdi Hifni Rashed (Picture) Awarded the 2007 King Faisal International Prize, Optics & Photonics News (OPN, Logo), Vol. 18, No. 10, pp. 22–23 (October 2007).</ref> His book was translated into Latin and was relied upon as a principal source on the science of optics in Europe until the 17th century.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/>

====Institutionalization of medicine====
The medical sciences were prominently cultivated in the Islamic world.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> The works of Greek medical theories, especially those of Galen, were translated into Arabic and there was an outpouring of medical texts by Islamic physicians, which were aimed at organizing, elaborating, and disseminating classical medical knowledge.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> [[Medical specialty|Medical specialties]] started to emerge, such as those involved in the treatment of eye diseases such as [[cataract]]s. Ibn Sina (known as [[Avicenna]] in the West, c. 980–1037) was a prolific Persian medical encyclopedist<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Nasr|first=Seyyed Hossein|year=2007|title=Avicenna|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna|access-date=3 June 2010|archive-date=31 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031092920/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9011433/Avicenna|url-status=live}}</ref> wrote extensively on medicine,<ref name="Jacquart, Danielle 2008">Jacquart, Danielle (2008). "Islamic Pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Theories and Substances". European Review (Cambridge University Press) 16: 219–227.</ref><ref>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", Heart Views 4 (2).</ref> with his two most notable works in medicine being the ''Kitāb al-shifāʾ'' ("Book of Healing") and [[The Canon of Medicine]], both of which were used as standard medicinal texts in both the Muslim world and in Europe well into the 17th century. Amongst his many contributions are the discovery of the contagious nature of infectious diseases,<ref name="Jacquart, Danielle 2008"/> and the introduction of clinical pharmacology.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Brater | first1=D. Craig | last2=Daly | first2=Walter J. | year=2000 | title=Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century | journal=Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics | volume=67 | issue=5| pages=447–450 [448] | doi=10.1067/mcp.2000.106465 | pmid=10824622| s2cid=45980791 }}</ref> Institutionalization of medicine was another important achievement in the Islamic world. Although hospitals as an institution for the sick emerged in the Byzantium empire, the model of institutionalized medicine for all social classes was extensive in the Islamic empire and was scattered throughout. In addition to treating patients, physicians could teach apprentice physicians, as well write and do research. The discovery of the pulmonary transit of blood in the human body by [[Ibn al-Nafis]] occurred in a hospital setting.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/>

====Decline====
Islamic science began its decline in the 12th–13th century, before the [[Renaissance]] in Europe, due in part to the [[Reconquista|Christian reconquest of Spain]] and the [[Mongol conquests]] in the East in the 11th–13th century. The Mongols [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|sacked Baghdad]], capital of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]], in 1258, which ended the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid empire]].<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/><ref name="Erica Fraser 1600">Erica Fraser. The Islamic World to 1600, University of Calgary.</ref> Nevertheless, many of the conquerors became patrons of the sciences. [[Hulagu Khan]], for example, who led the siege of Baghdad, became a patron of the [[Maragheh observatory]].<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/> Islamic astronomy continued to flourish into the 16th century.<ref name= "lindberg2007h"/>

===Western Europe===
{{Further|European science in the Middle Ages | Renaissance of the 12th century|Scholasticism|Medieval technology|List of medieval European scientists|Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe}}
[[File:Roger-bacon-statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of [[Roger Bacon]] at the [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]]]]
By the eleventh century, most of Europe had become Christian; stronger monarchies emerged; borders were restored; technological developments and agricultural innovations were made, increasing the food supply and population. Classical Greek texts were translated from Arabic and Greek into Latin, stimulating scientific discussion in Western Europe.<ref>Lindberg, David. (1992) ''The Beginnings of Western Science''  University of Chicago Press. p. 204.</ref>

In [[classical antiquity]], Greek and Roman taboos had meant that dissection was usually banned, but in the Middle Ages medical teachers and students at Bologna began to open human bodies, and [[Mondino de Luzzi]] ({{Circa|1275}}–1326) produced the first known anatomy textbook based on human dissection.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=978-0674057418 |last=Numbers |first=Ronald |title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion |page=45 |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03327-6 |access-date=12 April 2018 |archive-date=20 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120190509/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057418 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/04/debunking-a-myth/ |title=Debunking a myth |date=7 April 2011 |publisher=Harvard University |access-date=12 April 2018 |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728101124/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/04/debunking-a-myth/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

As a result of the [[Pax Mongolica]], Europeans, such as [[Marco Polo]], began to venture further and further east. The written accounts of Polo and his fellow travelers inspired other Western European maritime explorers to search for a direct sea route to Asia, ultimately leading to the [[Age of Discovery]].<ref name= "love2006a">{{cite book | last = Love | first= Ronald S. | year = 2006 | chapter = Historical overview | title = Maritime Exploration in the Age of Discovery, 1415–1800 | pages = 1–8  | location = Westport, Connecticut | publisher = Greenwood | isbn= 978-0313320439}}</ref>

Technological advances were also made, such as the early flight of [[Eilmer of Malmesbury]] (who had studied mathematics in 11th-century England),<ref name="Eilmer">[[William of Malmesbury]], ''[[Gesta Regum Anglorum]] / The history of the English kings'', ed. and trans. R.A.B. Mynors, R.M. Thomson, and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols., Oxford Medieval Texts (1998–99)</ref> and the metallurgical achievements of the [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] [[blast furnace]] at [[Laskill]].<ref name="Laskill">R.W. Vernon, G. McDonnell and A. Schmidt, 'An integrated geophysical and analytical appraisal of early iron-working: three case studies' ''Historical Metallurgy'' 31(2) (1998), 72–75 79.</ref><ref name="Derbeyshire">David Derbyshire, ''Henry "Stamped Out Industrial Revolution"'', [[The Daily Telegraph]] (21 June 2002)</ref>

====Medieval universities====
An intellectual revitalization of Western Europe started with the birth of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]] in the 12th century. These urban institutions grew from the informal scholarly activities of learned [[friar]]s who visited [[Monastery|monasteries]], consulted [[Library|libraries]], and conversed with other fellow scholars.<ref name= "gal2021d">{{cite book | last= Gal | first = Ofer | year = 2021 | chapter = Medieval learning | title = The Origins of Modern Science | pages = 101–138 | location = New York, New York | publisher = Cambridge University Press | isbn= 978-1316649701}}</ref> A friar who became well-known would attract a following of disciples, giving rise to a brotherhood of scholars (or ''collegium'' in Latin). A ''collegium'' might travel to a town or request a monastery to host them. However, if the number of scholars within a ''collegium'' grew too large, they would opt to settle in a town instead.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> As the number of ''collegia'' within a town grew, the ''collegia'' might request that their king grant them a [[charter]] that would convert them into a ''universitas''.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Many universities were chartered during this period, with the first in [[Bologna]] in 1088, followed by [[Paris]] in 1150, [[Oxford]] in 1167, and [[Cambridge]] in 1231.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> The granting of a charter meant that the medieval universities were partially sovereign and independent from local authorities.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Their independence allowed them to conduct themselves and judge their own members based on their own rules. Furthermore, as initially religious institutions, their faculties and students were protected from capital punishment (e.g., [[gallows]]).<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Such independence was a matter of custom, which could, in principle, be revoked by their respective rulers if they felt threatened. Discussions of various subjects or claims at these medieval institutions, no matter how controversial, were done in a formalized way so as to declare such discussions as being within the bounds of a university and therefore protected by the privileges of that institution's sovereignty.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> A claim could be described as ''[[Papal infallibility#Ex cathedra|ex cathedra]]'' (literally "from the chair", used within the context of teaching) or ''[[List of Latin phrases (E)#ex hypothesi|ex hypothesi]]'' (by hypothesis). This meant that the discussions were presented as purely an intellectual exercise that did not require those involved to commit themselves to the truth of a claim or to proselytize. Modern academic concepts and practices such as [[academic freedom]] or freedom of inquiry are remnants of these medieval privileges that were tolerated in the past.<ref name= "gal2021d"/>

The curriculum of these medieval institutions centered on the [[Liberal arts education#History|seven liberal arts]], which were aimed at providing beginning students with the skills for reasoning and scholarly language.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Students would begin their studies starting with the first three liberal arts or ''[[Trivium]]'' (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) followed by the next four liberal arts or ''[[Quadrivium]]'' (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music).<ref name= "gal2021d"/><ref name= "lindberg2007g"/> Those who completed these requirements and received their ''[[Bachelor's degree|baccalaureate]]'' (or [[Bachelor of Arts]]) had the option to join the higher faculty (law, medicine, or theology), which would confer an [[Legum Doctor|LLD]] for a lawyer, an [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] for a physician, or [[Doctor of Theology|ThD]] for a theologian.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Students who chose to remain in the lower faculty (arts) could work towards a ''[[Magister degree|Magister]]'' (or [[Master's degree|Master's]]) degree and would study three philosophies: metaphysics, ethics, and natural philosophy.<ref name= "gal2021d"/> [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Latin translation]]s of Aristotle's works such as {{lang|la|[[De Anima]]}} (''On the Soul'') and the commentaries on them were required readings. As time passed, the lower faculty was allowed to confer its own doctoral degree called the [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]].<ref name= "gal2021d"/> Many of the Masters were drawn to encyclopedias and had used them as textbooks. But these scholars yearned for the complete original texts of the Ancient Greek philosophers, mathematicians, and physicians such as [[Aristotle]], [[Euclid]], and [[Galen]], which were not available to them at the time. These Ancient Greek texts were to be found in the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic World.<ref name= "gal2021d"/>

====Translations of Greek and Arabic sources====
Contact with the Byzantine Empire,<ref name=Lindberg1992p162/> and with the Islamic world during the [[Reconquista]] and the [[Crusades]], allowed Latin Europe access to scientific [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Arabic language|Arabic]] texts, including the works of [[Aristotle]], [[Ptolemy]], [[Isidore of Miletus]], [[John Philoponus]], [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]], [[Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī|al-Khwarizmi]], [[Ibn al-Haytham|Alhazen]], [[Avicenna]], and [[Averroes]]. European scholars had access to the translation programs of [[Raymond of Toledo]], who sponsored the 12th century [[Toledo School of Translators]] from Arabic to Latin. Later translators like [[Michael Scotus]] would learn Arabic in order to study these texts directly. The European universities aided materially in the [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translation and propagation of these texts]] and started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities. In fact, European university put many works about the natural world and the study of nature at the center of its curriculum,<ref>Huff, Toby. ''Rise of early modern science'' 2nd ed. pp. 180–181</ref> with the result that the "medieval university laid far greater emphasis on science than does its modern counterpart and descendent."<ref>Grant, Edward. "Science in the Medieval University", in James M. Kittleson and Pamela J. Transue, ed., ''Rebirth, Reform and Resilience: Universities in Transition, 1300–1700'', Ohio State University Press, 1984, p. 68</ref>

At the beginning of the 13th century, there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of almost all the intellectually crucial ancient authors, allowing a sound transfer of scientific ideas via both the universities and the monasteries. By then, the natural philosophy in these texts began to be extended by [[Scholasticism|scholastics]] such as [[Robert Grosseteste]], [[Roger Bacon]], [[Albertus Magnus]] and [[Duns Scotus]]. Precursors of the modern scientific method, influenced by earlier contributions of the Islamic world, can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on mathematics as a way to understand nature, and in the empirical approach admired by Bacon, particularly in his ''[[Opus Majus]]''. [[Pierre Duhem]]'s thesis is that [[Stephen Tempier]] – the Bishop of Paris – [[Condemnation of 1277]] led to the study of medieval science as a serious discipline, "but no one in the field any longer endorses his view that modern science started in 1277".<ref name="Stanford">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/ |title=Condemnation of 1277 |first=Hans |last=Thijssen |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=30 January 2003 |access-date=14 September 2009 |publisher=[[University of Stanford]] |archive-date=11 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311030803/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, many scholars agree with Duhem's view that the mid-late Middle Ages saw important scientific developments.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rediscovering the Science of the Middle Ages |url=http://biologos.org/blog/rediscovering-the-science-of-the-middle-ages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230301161246/https://biologos.org/articles/rediscovering-the-science-of-the-middle-ages |archive-date=1 March 2023 |access-date=26 October 2014 |publisher=BioLogos}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://icucourses.com/pages/023-a03-the-middle-ages-and-the-birth-of-science|title=023-A03: The Middle Ages and the Birth of Science – International Catholic University|work=International Catholic University|access-date=26 October 2014|archive-date=26 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026061525/http://icucourses.com/pages/023-a03-the-middle-ages-and-the-birth-of-science|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=History: A medieval multiverse|volume=507|issue=7491|pages=161–163|journal=Nature News & Comment|doi=10.1038/507161a|pmid=24627918|year=2014|last1=McLeish|first1=Tom C. B.|author-link1=Tom McLeish|last2=Bower|first2=Richard G.|last3=Tanner |first3=Brian K.|last4=Smithson|first4=Hannah E.|last5=Panti|first5=Cecilia|last6=Lewis|first6=Neil|last7=Gasper|first7=Giles E.M.|url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/16743/1/16743.pdf|access-date=15 July 2019|archive-date=23 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723044419/http://dro.dur.ac.uk/16743/1/16743.pdf|url-status=live|doi-access=free}}</ref>

====Medieval science====
The first half of the 14th century saw much important scientific work, largely within the framework of [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] commentaries on Aristotle's scientific writings.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 127–131.</ref> [[William of Ockham]] emphasized the principle of [[Occam's razor|parsimony]]: natural philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct thing but is only the moving object<ref>Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science'', (Harvard Univ. Press, 1974), p. 232</ref> and an intermediary "sensible species" is not needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye.<ref>David C. Lindberg, ''Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler'', (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1976), pp. 140–142.</ref> Scholars such as [[Jean Buridan]] and [[Nicole Oresme]] started to reinterpret elements of Aristotle's mechanics. In particular, Buridan developed the theory that impetus was the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was a first step towards the modern concept of [[inertia]].<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 95–97.</ref> The [[Oxford Calculators]] began to mathematically analyze the [[kinematics]] of motion, making this analysis without considering the causes of motion.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 100–103.</ref>

In 1348, the [[Black Death]] and other disasters sealed a sudden end to philosophic and scientific development. Yet, the rediscovery of ancient texts was stimulated by the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, when many Byzantine scholars sought refuge in the West. Meanwhile, the introduction of printing was to have great effect on European society. The facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and allowed ideas such as [[algebra]] to propagate more rapidly. These developments paved the way for the [[Scientific Revolution]], where scientific inquiry, halted at the start of the Black Death, resumed.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of Science & Culture|url=https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html|first=Jessie|department=Historical development|last=Szalay|date=2016-06-29|website=LiveScience.com|access-date=2019-07-19|archive-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027214636/https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oK4HTBcdSJsC&pg=PR14|first=Robert S.|last=Gottfried|publisher=Free Press|isbn=978-0-02-912370-6|title=The Black Death: Natural & Human Disaster in Medieval Europe|year=1985|access-date=2019-07-19|page=xiv|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803141629/https://books.google.com/books?id=oK4HTBcdSJsC&pg=PR14|url-status=live}}</ref>