Editing Science (section)

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|History of science#Middle Ages}}
[[File:ViennaDioscoridesEndpaperPeacock.jpg|thumb|The first page of [[Vienna Dioscurides]] depicts a [[peacock]], made in the 6th century|alt=Picture of a peacock on very old paper]]

Due to the [[collapse of the Western Roman Empire]], the 5th century saw an intellectual decline, with knowledge of classical Greek conceptions of the world deteriorating in Western Europe.<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|p=194}} Latin encyclopaedists of the period such as [[Isidore of Seville]] preserved the majority of general ancient knowledge.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyvmEyX6rZgC |title=The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-56762-6 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of Science |pages=7–17 |access-date=9 November 2018}}</ref> In contrast, because the [[Byzantine Empire]] resisted attacks from invaders, they were able to preserve and improve prior learning.<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|p=159}} [[John Philoponus]], a Byzantine scholar in the 6th century, started to question Aristotle's teaching of physics, introducing the [[theory of impetus]].<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|pp=307, 311, 363, 402}} His criticism served as an inspiration to medieval scholars and Galileo Galilei, who extensively cited his works ten centuries later.<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|pp=307–308}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Philoponus |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/philoponus/ |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |first=Christian |last=Wildberg |editor-first=Edward N. |editor-last=Zalta |date=1 May 2018 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |access-date=1 May 2018 |archive-date=22 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822110331/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/philoponus/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

During [[late antiquity]] and the [[Early Middle Ages]], natural phenomena were mainly examined via the Aristotelian approach. The approach includes Aristotle's [[four causes]]: material, formal, moving, and final cause.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Aristotle on Causality |last=Falcon |first=Andrea |editor-last=Zalta |year=2019 |editor-first=Edward |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Spring 2019 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCau |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009032459/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCau |url-status=live}}</ref> Many Greek classical texts were preserved by the [[Byzantine Empire]] and [[Arabic]] translations were made by Christians, mainly [[Nestorian schism|Nestorians]] and [[Miaphysites]]. Under the Abbasids, these Arabic translations were later improved and developed by Arabic scientists.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran |title=A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-68957-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran/page/n77 62]–67 |chapter=Islam and the eastward shift of Aristotelian natural philosophy |url-access=limited}}</ref> By the 6th and 7th centuries, the neighbouring [[Sasanian Empire]] established the medical [[Academy of Gondishapur]], which was considered by Greek, Syriac, and Persian physicians as the most important medical hub of the ancient world.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge history of Iran |date=1968–1991 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |last=Fisher |first=W. B. |isbn=978-0-521-20093-6}}</ref>

Islamic study of [[Aristotelianism#Islamic world|Aristotelianism]] flourished in the [[House of Wisdom]] established in the Abbasid capital of [[Baghdad]], Iraq<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Bayt-al-Hikmah |title=Bayt al-Hikmah |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=3 November 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104043313/https://www.britannica.com/place/Bayt-al-Hikmah |archive-date=4 November 2016}}</ref> and the flourished<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Hossein Nasr |editor-first=Seyyed |title=History of Islamic Philosophy |title-link=History of Islamic Philosophy |editor-last2=Leaman |editor-first2=Oliver |publisher=Routledge |year=2001 |isbn=978-0415259347 |pages=165–167 |editor-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr}}</ref> until the [[Mongol invasions]] in the 13th century. [[Ibn al-Haytham]], better known as Alhazen, used controlled experiments in his optical study.{{efn|name=doubtPtolemy|1= Ibn al-Haytham's ''[[Book of Optics]]'' Book I, [6.54]. pages 372 and 408 disputed Claudius Ptolemy's extramission theory of vision; "Hence, the extramission of [visual] rays is superfluous and useless". —A.Mark Smith's translation of the Latin version of [[Ibn al-Haytham]].<ref name="Smith2001" />{{rp|Book I, [6.54]. pp. 372, 408}} }}<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=228328 |last1=Toomer |first1=G. J. |title=Reviewed work: Ibn al-Haythams Weg zur Physik, Matthias Schramm |journal=Isis |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=463–465 |year=1964 |doi=10.1086/349914}} See p. 464: "Schramm sums up [Ibn Al-Haytham's] achievement in the development of scientific method.", p. 465: "Schramm has demonstrated .. beyond any dispute that Ibn al-Haytham is a major figure in the Islamic scientific tradition, particularly in the creation of experimental techniques." p. 465: "only when the influence of Ibn al-Haytham and others on the mainstream of later medieval physical writings has been seriously investigated can Schramm's claim that Ibn al-Haytham was the true founder of modern physics be evaluated."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=H. Floris |author-link=Floris Cohen |chapter=Greek nature knowledge transplanted: The Islamic world |title=How modern science came into the world. Four civilizations, one 17th-century breakthrough |year=2010 |pages=99–156 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-8964-239-4 |edition=2nd}}</ref> [[Avicenna]]'s compilation of ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', a medical encyclopaedia, is considered to be one of the most important publications in medicine and was used until the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediahis00seli |url-access=limited |year=2006 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediahis00seli/page/n168 155]–156 |publisher=Springer |bibcode=2008ehst.book.....S |isbn=978-1-4020-4559-2 |editor-last1=Selin |editor-first1=Helaine |editor-link=Helaine Selin}}</ref>

By the 11th century most of Europe had become Christian,<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|p=204}} and in 1088, the [[University of Bologna]] emerged as the first university in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Russell |first=Josiah C. |year=1959 |title=Gratian, Irnerius, and the Early Schools of Bologna |journal=[[The Mississippi Quarterly]] |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=168–188 |jstor=26473232 |quote=Perhaps even as early as 1088 (the date officially set for the founding of the University)}}</ref> As such, demand for Latin translation of ancient and scientific texts grew,<ref name="Lindberg2007"/>{{rp|p=204}} a major contributor to the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]]. Renaissance [[scholasticism]] in western Europe flourished, with experiments done by observing, describing, and classifying subjects in nature.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Albertus-Magnus |title=St. Albertus Magnus |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=27 October 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028045424/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Albertus-Magnus |archive-date=28 October 2017}}</ref> In the 13th century, medical teachers and students at Bologna began opening human bodies, leading to the first anatomy textbook based on human dissection by [[Mondino de Luzzi]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Numbers |first=Ronald |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057418 |title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03327-6 |page=45 |access-date=27 March 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>