Science in the Middle Ages
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'''Science in the Middle Ages'''<ref>Although the term "Middle Ages" in most strongly associated with [[European history]] it is used here as a historical period for the entire world.</ref> progressed dramatically from the time of [[Ancient history|antiquity]] in areas as diverse as [[astronomy]], [[medicine]], and [[mathematics]]. Whereas the ancient cultures of the world (i.e. those prior to the [[fall of Rome]] and the dawn of [[Muslim history|Islam]]) had developed many of the foundations of science, it was during the Middle Ages that the [[scientific method]] was born and science became a formal discipline separate from [[philosophy]].<ref>Gorini, Rosanna: ''[http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/4/10.pdf Al-Haytham the Man of Experience. First Steps in the Science of Vision]'', Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, Rome, Italy</ref><ref>Saliba, George: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mOquCzBX3xcC A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam]'', pg. 32, NYU Press, 1994, ISBN 0814780237</ref><ref name=Dallal>{{citation|first=Ahmad|last=Dallal|year=2001-2002|title=The Interplay of Science and Theology in the Fourteenth-century Kalam|publisher=From Medieval to Modern in the Islamic World, Sawyer Seminar at the [[University of Chicago]] |url=http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/institute/sawyer/archive/islam/dallal.html |accessdate=2008-02-02}}</ref> Although there were scientific discoveries throughout the world, the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic world]] around the [[Mediterranean]] and [[China]] led the early [[Middle Ages|Medieval age]] in major accomplishments thanks to scholars such as [[Alhazen]] and [[Shen Kuo]], while [[History of India|India]] also made advances in astronomy, mathematics and medicine. From the 12th century onwards, scientists in western Europe began to slowly make good their deficits in comparison to the Chinese and Islamic scientists, a process that would take nearly four hundred years.
The [[Byzantine Empire|Roman/Byzantine Empire]], which was the most sophisticated culture during antiquity, suffered [[Muslim conquests|dramatic losses]] limiting its scientific prowess during the Medieval period. Christian [[Western Europe]] had suffered a catastrophic loss of fortune following the fall of the [[Western Roman Empire]] leading to centuries of backwardness. But thanks to the [[Roman Catholic Church|Church]] scholars such as [[Aquinas]] and [[Buridan]], the West carried on at least the spirit of scientific inquiry which would later lead to Europe's taking the lead in science during the [[Scientific Revolution]] using [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translations of medieval works]].
==Major accomplishments==
{{HistOfScience}}
Although there were numerous scientific accomplishments during the Middle Ages the following are notable discoveries which advanced the world of science.
* [[Scientific method]] — The scientific method, as systematic approach to theory and experimentation, developed during the Middle Ages due to the work of scholars such as [[Alhazen]],<ref>Gorini, Rosanna: ''[http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/4/10.pdf Al-Haytham the Man of Experience. First Steps in the Science of Vision]'', Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, Rome, Italy</ref> [[Biruni]], [[Roger Bacon|Bacon]],<ref>Glick, Thomas F.; Livesey, Steven John; Wallis, Faith: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SaJlbWK_-FcC Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia], pg. 89-90, Routledge, 2005, ISBN 0415969301.</ref><ref>Hackett, Jeremiah: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Gy3Vp7TurVUC Roger Bacon and the Sciences: Commemorative Essays]'', Brill Academic Publishers, 1997, ISBN 9004100156</ref> and [[Robert Grosseteste]], who produced a systemized process of scientific enquiry based upon observation, experimentation and verification of hypotheses.<ref> Parkinson, Claire: ''Breakthroughs. A chronology of great achievements in science and mathematics.'' Mansell 1985, ISBN 0-7201-1800-X, p4</ref>
* [[Arithmetic]] and [[Algebra]] — the Islamic scholar [[Al-Khwarizmi]] was the author of two books that changed the face of both Islamic and European mathematics. His “De numero indorum” (which only exists in Latin translation; no Arabic original is known) introduced the [[Hindu-Arabic numeral system|Hindu decimal place value number system]] first into the Arab world in the 9th Century and then into Europe in the 12th Century. His “al-Kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala” was a compendium of basic algebra, a word taken from the title of the book, drawn from Babylonian, Greek and Indian sources. In it he demonstrates how to solve linear and quadratic equations but only those with positive solutions. [[Brahmagupta]], one of his main sources, was already dealing with negative solutions in the 7th Century. Later Islamic mathematicians extended [[Al-Khwarizmi]]’s results to those polynomials of higher degree that could be reduced to quadratics through substitution. His arithmetic was taught as [[Algorithm]]us, a corruption of his name, in mediaeval universities as a part of [[computus]]. His arithmetic and algebra were popularised in Europe through the publication of the [[Liber Abaci|Liber abbaci]] by [[Leonardo of Pisa]] in the 13th century.<ref>Boyer, Carl B.: "A History of Mathematics" John Wiley & Sons 1968 pp.251-258</ref> <ref>Brezina, Corona: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3Sfrxde0CXIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=algebra+khwarizmi&sig=nOi2Ywc_dLrFXMgMKhbfNoM5uzs Al-Khwarizmi: The Inventor of Algebra]'', The Rosen Publishing Group, 2006, 112 pages, ISBN 1404205136</ref> .
* [[Differential calculus]] — The concepts of [[tangent|tangential lines]] and [[infinitesimal]]s were developed by the ancient Greeks but it was Medieval scholars, notably [[Bhaskara]], that developed the basic mathematical framework for modern differential calculus.<ref>Singh, Manpal: ''[Modern Teaching of Mathematics http://books.google.com/books?id=-fcsODosivQC]'', pg. 385, Anmol Publications PVT
. LTD., 2005, ISBN 812612105X</ref><ref>Goonatilake, Susantha: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=MdgnAiDFSLUC Toward a Global Science: Mining Civilizational Knowledge]'', Indiana University Press, 1998, 314 pages, ISBN 0253211824</ref>
* [[Mechanics]] — In the 6th Century, [[John Philoponus]] in his critique of [[Aristotle]]’s [[Aristotelian physics|theory of motion]], introduced the concept of “impressed force” to explain why thrown objects continued to move after loosing contact with the thrower. This concept was further developed by Islamic scholars such as [[Avicenna]] in the 11th century, who theorized the concept of [[momentum]],<ref name=Sayili>A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' '''500''' (1), p. 477–482:
{{quote|"Thus he considered impetus as proportional to weight times velocity. In other words, his conception of impetus comes very close to the concept of momentum of Newtonian mechanics."}}</ref> as well as by [[Ibn Bajjah|Avempace]]—who developed the concept of a [[Reaction (physics)|reaction force]]<ref name=Pines-1964>[[Shlomo Pines]] (1964), "La dynamique d’Ibn Bajja", in ''Mélanges Alexandre Koyré'', I, 442-468 [462, 468], Paris
<br>([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003), "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4): 521-546 [543])</ref>— and [[Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi|Abu’l Barakat]]— who developed the concept that [[force]] applied continuously produces [[acceleration]]<ref name=Pines-1970>{{cite encyclopedia | last = [[Shlomo Pines]] | title = Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī , Hibat Allah | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume = 1 | pages = 26-28 | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons | location = New York | date = 1970 | isbn = 0684101149}}
<br>([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4), p. 521-546 [528].)</ref>— in the 12th century. These concepts were adopted by various western thinkers, achieving their most developed form in the hands of [[Jean Buridan]] in the 14th century. [[Galileo]] further developed this into the [[inertia|theory of inertia]], which after further modification, through [[Descartes]], became [[Newton]]’s [[Laws of Motion|First Law of Motion]].<ref> Grant Edward: ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages '' CUP 1996, pp.94-96, ISBN 0-521-56137-X</ref>
* [[Optics]] — the Greeks treated [[optics]] as three independent disciplines; theories of philosophical or physical optics the [[Atomist]], [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], the [[Stoics]]; physiological theories of the eye [[Galen]] and [[geometrical optics]] [[Euclid]], [[Hero]] and [[Ptolemaeus]]<ref>Lindberg, David C. "Theories of Vision from Al-Kindi to Kepler" University of Chicago Press 1976 pp.1-16</ref>. In the 10th Century the Islamic polymath [[Alhazen]] became the first thinker to combine all three fields into an integrated science of optics.<ref name=Lindberg>Lindberg pp.58-86</ref> This was however not just a work of synthesis as he made original contribution to the field. Whereas the Greeks had merely assumed the linear propagation of light [[Alhazen]] proved it with empirical experiments. In the 13th Century [[Robert Grosseteste]] developed a unified theory of light based on the works of [[Al-Kindi]] and Ptolemaeus<ref>A. C. Crombie "Grosseteste and Experimental Science", OUP, 1953 chapts. V. & VI.</ref> [[Roger Bacon]] adopted Grosseteste's theories and expanded them to include the optics of[[Alhazen]] <ref>Linberg pp.107-116</ref>, [[John Pecham]] and [[Witelo]] expanded on Bacon's work<ref>Lindberg pp.116-121</ref> and provided the fundament on which [[Kepler]] erected the modern theory of optics<ref>Lindberg pp.185-190</ref>.
* Modern [[surgery]] — Although the first known surgical text was written by [[Sushruta]] in antiquity, Medieval researchers, especially [[Abulcasis]], developed the techniques and tools that led to modern surgical practices (e.g. double-edged [[scalpel]], [[syringe]], [[Speculum (medical)|vaginal speculum]], etc.).<ref>Buck, Albert Henry: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nIcIAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA227 The Growth of Medicine from the Earliest Times to about 1800]'', Yale university press, 1917, 582 pages</ref> The 1266 work ''Chirurgia'', (Surgery), by [[Theodoric Borgognoni]] advocates antiseptic surgery, in opposition to the Arab belief in "laudable pus."<ref> Parkinson, Claire: ''Breakthroughs. A chronology of great achievements in science and mathematics.'' Mansell 1985, p. 8, ISBN 0-7201-1800-X</ref>
* [[Alchemy]] & [[chemistry]] — As with other disciplines, [[alchemy and chemistry in Islam]] was drawn from multiple sources: [[Alchemy in history|Egyptian, Greek, Indian]] and [[Chinese alchemy|Chinese]], and as with other disciplines the whole was significantly greater than the parts. Islamic culture created a vast corpus of alchemic literature that through transfer into Europe during the [[High Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance]] had a major effect on the development of science. The most influential texts were the so-called [[Geber|Jaberian]] corpus (much of which was written in the 10th century by the Ism’iliya, or [[Brethren of Purity|Brotherhood of Purity]]), the ''[[Pseudo-Geber|Summa Perfectionis]]'' of Paulus de Tarento and the ''Secret of Secrets'' of [[al-Razi]]. The first two introduced [[atomism]] and the [[Alchemy (Islam)|sulphur-mercury theory]] as competitors to [[Aristotle]]’s theory of matter. [[Al-Razi]] described many of the methods and much of the equipment that formed the basis of work in [[chemistry]], [[metallurgy]] and [[pharmacology]] up to the middle of the 19th century.<ref>Brock, William H.: "The Fontana History Of Chemistry", Fontana 1992 pp. 20-23</ref>
* [[Trigonometry]] — developed in ancient times by [[Hipparchus]], [[Menelaus of Alexandria|Menelaus]] and [[Ptolemy|Ptolemaeus]] in order to facilitate their astronomical calculations. In [[Greek mathematics|Greek trigonometry]], angles were represented by the chords of a circle. Menelaus laid the foundations for spherical trigonometry in his ''Sphaerica'' whilst Ptolemaeus produced the most extensive ancient trigonometry text as part of his ''[[Almagest|Syntaxis Mathematike]]''.<ref>Boyer, Carl B.: "A History of Mathematics" John Wiley & Sons 1968 pp.176-194</ref> [[Indian mathematics|Hindu mathematicians]], who may have borrowed much from [[Greek astronomy]], replaced the Greek chordal trigonometry with half-chords producing the equivalent of our [[sine]] and [[cosine]]. The most important Hindu trigonometry texts are the ''[[Surya Siddhanta]]'' (4th Century), the ''[[Aryabhatiya]]'' (5th Century) and the ''[[Bhaskara II|Siddhanta Shiromani]]'' (12th Century); as with the Greeks, all of these are astronomy texts.<ref>Kline, Morris: "Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times" OUP 1972 p. 189</ref><ref>Boyer, Carl B.: "A History of Mathematics" John Wiley & Sons 1968 pp.231-246</ref> The [[Islamic mathematics|Islamic mathematicians]] and astronomers took over the mathematical astronomy of Ptolemaeus, [[Aryabhata]] and [[Brahmagupta]], and introduced the [[secant]], [[cosecant]], [[tangent]] and [[cotangent]]. In the 13th century, [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī|al-Tusi]] produced the first complete work on planar and [[spherical trigonometry]], treating it as a discrete mathematical discipline independent of astronomy.<ref>Boyer, Carl B.: "A History of Mathematics" John Wiley & Sons 1968 pp.261-267</ref> Trigonometry was introduced to Western Europe during the [[Latin translations of the 12th century]], and later came into wider use due to [[Peurbach]] and [[Regiomontanus]] in the middle of the 15th century. Like the [[Islamic astronomy|Islamic astronomers]], they replaced the Ptolemaic chordal trigonometry with Hindu-Arabic half-chord trigonometry.
* Technologies for [[navigation]] — Although primitive versions of the technologies were known in antiquity, it was during the Middle Ages that key technologies such as the latitude-independent [[astrolabe]] ([[Arzachel]]) and the portable [[compass]] ([[Shen Kuo]]) were developed as practical tools for navigation, especially on the open seas.<ref>Houtsma, M. Th.; Donzel, E. van: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam]'', BRILL, 1993, ISBN 9004082654</ref><ref>Deng, Gang: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ddcV_cGegX4C Maritime Sector, Institutions, and Sea Power of Premodern China]'', Greenwood Publishing
Group, 1999, 312 pages, ISBN 0313307121</ref> In the thirteenth century [[Peter of Maricourt]] made two major innovations to improve the accuracy and practicality of the magnetic compass by adding a calibrated scale and placing the magnet on a pivot. <ref> Parkinson, Claire: ''Breakthroughs. A chronology of great achievements in science and mathematics.'' Mansell 1985, p.9, ISBN 0-7201-1800-X</ref>
* Accurate lunar models — The motions of the moon and planets had been studied for millenia. The Middle Ages produced the first model of lunar motion (developed by [[Ibn al-Shatir]]) which matched physical observations. This and other developments in planetary models are believed to have been used by the [[Renaissance]] astronomer [[Copernicus]].<ref name=Saliba-2007>[[George Saliba]] (2007), [http://youtube.com/watch?v=GfissgPCgfM Lecture at SOAS, London - Part 4/7] and [http://youtube.com/watch?v=0VMBRAd6YBU Lecture at SOAS, London - Part 5/7]</ref>
* [[Incendiary weapon]]s and [[bomb]]s — The use of fire and flammable materials in warfare are as old as mankind itself but the Middle Ages took the science from simple recipes and brute force approaches to sophisticated formulae and devices. These included everything from [[flamethrower]]s (developed in the [[Byzantine Empire]] and [[China]]) to [[land mine|land]]/[[naval mine|sea]] [[minefield|mines]] and [[solid-fuel rocket]]s (developed in [[China]]).<ref>Partington, James Riddick: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=30IJLnwpc8EC A History of Greek Fire and Gunpowder]'', JHU Press, 1998, 416 pages, ISBN 0801859549</ref><ref>Needham, Joseph: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=hNcZJ35dIyUC Science and civilisation in China Volume 5 Part 1. Paper and printing]'', Cambridge University Press, 1974, ISBN 0521303583</ref>
Because of the decline of the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the medieval [[Muslim empire]]s much of the scientific progress of the Middle Ages became "lost" (i.e. the expertise but not necessarily the texts) until it was rediscovered by Europe during the [[Renaissance]] and the [[Scientific Revolution]].
==Western Europe==
{{main|Science in Medieval Western Europe}}
[[Image:God the Geometer.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Science]], and particularly [[geometry]] and [[astronomy]], was linked directly to the divine for most medieval scholars. Since God created the universe after geometric and harmonic principles, to seek these principles was therefore to seek and worship God.]]
===Overview===
Scientific inquiry was never particularly strong in the Latin side of the Roman Empire, especially when compared with its Greek (Hellenistic) counterpart. As imperial authority effectively [[Fall of Rome|ended]] in the West during the 5th century, [[Western Europe]] entered the Middle Ages with great difficulties that affected the continent's intellectual production dramatically. Most classical scientific treatises of [[classical antiquity]] (in [[Greek language|Greek]]) were unavailable, leaving only simplified summaries and compilations. Notwithstanding, with the beginning of the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]], interest in natural investigation was renewed. Science developed in this golden period of [[Scholasticism|Scholastic philosophy]] focused on [[logic]] and advocated [[empiricism]], perceiving nature as a coherent system of laws that could be explained in the light of reason. With this view the medieval men of science went in search of explanations for the phenomena of the [[universe]] and achieved important advances in areas such as [[scientific method]]ology and [[physics]], among many others. These advances, however, were suddenly interrupted by the [[Black Plague]] and are virtually unknown to the lay public of today, partly because most theories advanced in medieval science are today [[obsolete]], and partly because of the [[stereotype]] of Middle Ages as supposedly "[[Dark Ages]]".
===Early Middle Ages (AD 476–1000)===
''See also: [[Medieval medicine]], [[Medieval philosophy]]''
[[Image:Silos-Claustro.jpg|thumb|left|In the Early Middle Ages, cultural life was concentrated at [[monastery|monasteries]].]]
The [[Western Roman Empire]], although united by [[Latin]] as a common language, still harbored a great number of different cultures that were not completely assimilated by the Roman culture. Debilitated by migrations, barbarian invasions and the political disintegration of [[Rome]] in the 5th century, and isolated from the rest of the world by the spread of [[Islam]] in the 7th century, the European West became a tapestry of rural populations and semi-[[nomad]] peoples. The political instability and the downfall of urban life had a strong, negative impact on the cultural life of the continent. The [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]], being the only institution to survive the process, maintained what was left of intellectual strength, especially through [[monasticism]]. Until the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Western Europe, excepting the [[Al-Andalus|Muslim lands]], would lag far behind the scientific knowledge of the Eastern Roman, or ''[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]]'', Empire and the [[Muslim history|Muslim empires]].
In the ancient world, Greek was the primary language of science. Even under the Roman Empire, [[Latin]] texts were mainly compilations drawing on earlier Greek work; while advanced scientific research and teaching continued to be carried on in the [[Hellenistic]] side of the empire, in Greek. Late Roman attempts to translate Greek writings into Latin had limited success.<ref>[[William Stahl]], ''Roman Science'', (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Pr.) 1962, see esp. pp. 120–33.</ref>
As the knowledge of Greek declined during the transition to the Middle Ages, the Latin West found itself cut off from its Greek philosophical and scientific roots. Most scientific inquiry came to be based on information gleaned from sources which were often incomplete and posed serious problems of interpretation. Latin-speakers who wanted to learn about science only had access to books by such Roman writers as [[Chalcidius]], [[Macrobius]], [[Martianus Capella]], [[Boethius]], [[Cassiodorus]], and later Latin [[encyclopedist]]s. Much had to be gleaned from non-scientific sources: Roman surveying manuals were read for what geometry was included.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages|author=Edward Grant|year=1996|pages=13-14|
publisher=Cambridge University Press|id=ISBN 0-521-56137-X}}</ref>
Deurbanization reduced the scope of education and by the sixth century teaching and learning moved to monastic and cathedral schools, with the center of education being the study of the Bible.<ref>Pierre Riché, ''Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century'' (Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Pr., 1976), pp. 100–29.</ref> Education of the laity survived modestly in Italy, Spain, and the southern part of Gaul, where Roman influences were most long-lasting. In the seventh century, learning began to emerge in Ireland and the Celtic lands, where Latin was a foreign language and Latin texts were eagerly studied and taught.<ref>Pierre Riché, ''Education and Culture in the Barbarian West: From the Sixth through the Eighth Century'' (Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Pr., 1976), pp. 307–23.</ref>
The leading scholars of the early centuries were [[clergy]]men for whom the study of [[nature]] was but a small part of their interest. They lived in an atmosphere which provided little institutional support for the disinterested study of natural phenomena and they concentrated their attention on religious topics. The study of nature was pursued more for practical reasons than as an abstract inquiry: the need to care for the sick led to the study of medicine and of ancient texts on drugs,<ref>Linda E. Voigts, "Anglo-Saxon Plant Remedies and the Anglo-Saxons," ''Isis'', 70(1979):250–68; reprinted in M. H. Shank, ed., ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'', (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2000).</ref> the need for monks to determine the proper time to pray led them to study the motion of the stars,<ref>Stephen C. McCluskey, "Gregory of Tours, Monastic Timekeeping, and Early Christian Attitudes to Astronomy," ''Isis'', 81(1990):9–22; reprinted in M. H. Shank, ed., ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages'', (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2000).</ref> the need to compute the date of Easter led them to study and teach rudimentary mathematics and the motions of the Sun and Moon.<ref>Stephen C. McCluskey, ''Astronomies and Cultures in Early Medieval Europe'' (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1998), pp. 149–57.</ref> Modern readers may find it disconcerting that sometimes the same works discuss both the technical details of natural phenomena and their symbolic significance.<ref>Faith Wallis, "'Number Mystique' in Early Medieval Computus Texts," pp. 179–99 in T. Koetsier and L. Bergmans, eds. ''Mathematics and the Divine: A Historical Study'' (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005).</ref>
Around 800, the first attempt at rebuilding Western culture occurred (see: [[Carolingian Renaissance]]). [[Charlemagne|Charles the Great]], having succeeded at uniting a great portion of Europe under his domain, and in order to further unify and strengthen the Frankish Empire, decided to carry out a reform in [[education]]. The [[England|English]] monk [[Alcuin|Alcuin of York]] elaborated a project of scholarly development aimed at resuscitating classical knowledge by establishing programs of study based upon the seven [[liberal arts]]: the ''[[Trivium (education)|trivium]]'', or literary education ([[grammar]], [[rhetoric]] and [[dialectic]]) and the ''[[quadrivium]]'', or scientific education ([[arithmetic]], [[geometry]], [[astronomy]] and [[music]]). From the year 787 on, [[decree]]s began to circulate recommending, in the whole empire, the restoration of old schools and the founding of new ones. Institutionally, these new schools were either under the responsibility of a [[monastery]], a [[cathedral]] or a [[noble court]].
However, the 840s saw renewed disorder, with the breakup of the Frankish Empire and the beginning of a new cycle of barbarian raids. The significance of Charlemagne's educational measures would only be felt centuries later. The teaching of dialectic (a discipline that corresponds to today's [[logic]]) was responsible for the rebirth of the interest in speculative inquiry; from this interest would follow the rise of the [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] tradition of [[Christian philosophy]]. Moreover, in the 12th and 13th centuries, many of those schools founded under the auspices of Charles the Great, especially the [[cathedral school]]s, would become [[university|universities]].
===High Middle Ages (AD 1000–1300)===
{{See also|Renaissance of the 12th century|Latin translations of the 12th century|Medieval technology}}
By the year 1000 AD, western Europe remained a scientific backwater compared to certain other civilizations, including those of Christian Byzantium, and the Islamic world. While Constantinople's population exceeded 300,000, Rome had a mere 35,000 and Paris only 20,000. [http://www.irows.ucr.edu/research/citemp/estcit/estcit.htm][http://sumbur.n-t.org/sg/ua/ddk.htm] However, [[Christianization]] of the continent was making rapid progress and would eventually prove to be the long-term solution to the problem of barbarian raiding. Western Europe became more politically organized and would see a [[Medieval demography|rapid increase in population]] during the next centuries, which brought about great social and political changes.
[[Image:Escribano.jpg|thumb|220px|left|The translation of Greek and Arabic works allowed the full development of [[Christian philosophy]] and the method of [[scholasticism]].]]
The cultural scenario started to change after the [[Reconquista]] and during the [[Crusades]], as interaction with the [[Arab]]s brought Europeans into contact with [[ancient Greek]], [[Roman Empire|Roman]]/[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] and [[Arabic]] manuscripts. During the 800s and 900s, a mass of classical Greek texts were translated by Muslim scholars into Arabic, followed by a flurry of commentaries and independent works by Islamic thinkers. Around 1050, further translation into Latin had begun in Northern Spain, and the recapture of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] and [[Sicily]] by the Christian kingdoms near the end of the century allowed the translation to begin in earnest by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. Scholars came from around Europe to aid in translation.
[[Gerard of Cremona]] is a good example: an Italian who came to Spain to copy a single text, he stayed on to translate some seventy works.<ref>{{cite book|author=Howard R. Turner|title=Science in Medieval Islam:An Illustrated Introduction|year=1995|publisher=University of Texas Press|id=ISBN 0-292-78149-0}}</ref> His biography describes how he came to Toledo: "There, seeing the abundance of books in Arabic on every subject and regretting the poverty of the Latins in these things, he learned the Arabic language, in order to be able to translate." <ref>{{cite book|title=The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages|author=Edward Grant|year=1996|pages=24|
publisher=Cambridge University Press|id=ISBN 0-521-56137-X}}</ref>
[[Image:Map of Medieval Universities.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Map of ''[[Medieval university|Medieval Universities]]''. They started a new infrastructure which was needed for scientific communities.]]
This period also saw the birth of [[Medieval university|medieval universities]], which aided materially in the translation, preservation and propagation of the texts of the ancients and became a new infrastructure for scientific communities. Some of these new universities were registered as an institution of international excellence by the [[Holy Roman Empire]], receiving the title of ''[[Studium Generale]]''. Most of the early ''Studia Generali'' were found in [[Italy]], [[France]], [[England]], and [[Spain]], and these were considered the most prestigious places of learning in [[Europe]]. This list quickly grew as new universities were founded throughout Europe. As early as the 13th century, scholars from a ''Studium Generale'' were encouraged to give lecture courses at other institutes across Europe and to share documents, and this led to the current academic culture seen in modern European universities.
The rediscovery of the works of [[Aristotle]], alongside the works of medieval Islamic and Jewish philosophers (such as [[Avicenna]], [[Averroes]] and [[Maimonides]]) allowed the full development of the new [[Christian philosophy]] and the method of [[scholasticism]]. By 1200 there were reasonably accurate Latin translations of the main works of Aristotle, [[Plato]], [[Euclid]], [[Ptolemy]], [[Archimedes]], [[Galen]], that is, of all the intellectually crucial ancient authors except [[Thucydides]], and many of the crucial medieval Arabic and Jewish texts, such as the main works of [[Geber]], [[Al-Khwarizmi]], [[Alkindus]], [[Rhazes]], [[Alhazen]], Avicenna, [[Avempace]], Averroes and Maimonides. During the thirteenth century, the [[natural philosophy]] of these texts began to be extended by notable [[Scholastics]] such as [[Robert Grosseteste]], [[Roger Bacon]], [[Albertus Magnus]], and [[Duns Scotus]].
Scholastics believed in [[empiricism]] and supporting Roman Catholic doctrines through secular study, reason, and logic. The most famous was [[Thomas Aquinas]] (later declared a "[[Doctor of the Church]]"), who led the move away from the [[Platonism|Platonic]] and [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustinian]] and towards [[Aristotelianism]] (although [[natural philosophy]] was not his main concern). Meanwhile, precursors of the modern [[scientific method]] can be seen already in Grosseteste's emphasis on [[mathematics]] as a way to understand nature and in the empirical approach admired by Roger Bacon.
Grosseteste was the founder of the famous [[Oxford franciscan school]]. He was the first scholastic to fully understand [[Aristotle|Aristotle's]] vision of the dual path of scientific reasoning. Concluding from particular observations into a universal law, and then back again: from universal laws to prediction of particulars. Grosseteste called this "resolution and composition". Further, Grosseteste said that both paths should be verified through experimentation in order to verify the principals. These ideas established a tradition that carried forward to [[Padua]] and [[Galileo Galilei]] in the 17th century.
[[Image:Grosseteste-optics.jpg|thumb|right|270px|[[History of optics|Optical]] diagram showing light being refracted by a spherical glass container full of water. (from Roger Bacon or Robert Grosseteste)]]
Under the tuition of Grosseteste and inspired by the writings of Arab [[alchemy|alchemists]] who had preserved and built upon [[Aristotle]]'s portrait of [[Induction (philosophy)|induction]], Bacon described a repeating cycle of ''[[observation]]'', ''[[hypothesis]]'', ''[[experiment]]ation'', and the need for independent ''[[verification]]''. He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results - a cornerstone of the [[scientific method]], and a continuation of the work of researchers like [[Al Battani]].
Bacon and Grosseteste conducted investigations into [[optics]], although much of it was similar to what was being done at the time by Arab scholars. Bacon did make a major contribution to the development of science in medieval Europe by writing to the [[Pope]] to encourage the study of natural science in university courses and compiling several volumes recording the state of scientific knowledge in many fields at the time. He described the possible construction of a [[telescope]], but there is no strong evidence of his having made one.
===Late Middle Ages (AD 1300–1500)===
The first half of the 14th century saw the scientific work of great thinkers. The [[logic]] studies by [[William of Ockham|William of Occam]] led him to postulate a specific formulation of the principle of [[parsimony]], known today as [[Occam's Razor]]. This principle is one of the main heuristics used by modern science to select between two or more [[underdetermination|underdetermined]] theories.
As Western scholars became more aware (and more accepting) of controversial scientific treatises of the Byzantine and Islamic Empires these readings sparked new insights and speculation. The works of the early Byzantine scholar [[John Philoponus]] inspired Western scholars such as [[Jean Buridan]] to question the received wisdom of [[Aristotle]]'s mechanics. Buridan developed the theory of [[impetus]] which was the first step towards the modern concept of [[inertia]]. Buridan anticipated [[Isaac Newton]] when he wrote:
[[Image:Galileo-1638-173.jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Galileo]]'s demonstration of the law of the space traversed in case of uniformly varied motion. It's the same demonstration that [[Oresme]] had made centuries earlier.]]
:''...after leaving the arm of the thrower, the projectile would be moved by an impetus given to it by the thrower and would continue to be moved as long as the impetus remained stronger than the resistance, and would be of infinite duration were it not diminished and corrupted by a contrary force resisting it or by something inclining it to a contrary motion''
[[Thomas Bradwardine]] and his partners, the [[Oxford Calculators]] of [[Merton College]], distinguished [[kinematics]] from [[Dynamics (mechanics)|dynamics]], emphasizing kinematics, and investigating instantaneous velocity. They first formulated the [[mean speed theorem]]: ''a body moving with constant velocity travels distance and time equal to an accelerated body whose velocity is half the final speed of the accelerated body''. They also demonstrated this theorem -- essence of "The Law of Falling Bodies" -- long before [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] is credited with this.
In his turn, [[Nicole Oresme]] showed that the reasons proposed by the physics of Aristotle against the movement of the earth were not valid and adduced the argument of simplicity for the theory that the earth moves, and ''not'' the heavens. In the whole of his argument in favor of the earth's motion Oresme is both more explicit and much clearer than that given two centuries latter by [[Copernicus]]. He was also the first to assume that color and light are of the same nature and the discoverer of the curvature of light through [[atmospheric refraction]]; even though, up to now, the credit for this latter achievement has been given to [[Hooke]].
The historian of science [[Ronald Numbers]] notes that the modern scientific assumption of [[methodological naturalism]] can be also traced back to the work of these medieval thinkers:
:By the late Middle Ages the search for [[natural causes]] had come to typify the work of Christian [[natural philosopher]]s. Although characteristically leaving the door open for the possibility of direct divine intervention, they frequently expressed contempt for soft-minded contemporaries who invoked miracles rather than searching for natural explanations. The University of Paris cleric Jean Buridan (a. 1295-ca. 1358), described as "perhaps the most brilliant arts master of the Middle Ages," contrasted the philosopher’s search for "appropriate natural causes" with the common folk’s erroneous habit of attributing unusual astronomical phenomena to the supernatural. In the fourteenth century the natural philosopher Nicole Oresme (ca. 1320–82), who went on to become a Roman Catholic bishop, admonished that, in discussing various marvels of nature, "there is no reason to take recourse to the heavens, the last refuge of the weak, or demons, or to our glorious God as if He would produce these effects directly, more so than those effects whose causes we believe are well known to us." <ref>[[Ronald L. Numbers]] (2003). "Science without God: Natural Laws and Christian Beliefs." In: When Science and Christianity Meet, edited by David C. Lindberg, Ronald L. Numbers. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, p. 267.</ref>
However, a series of events that would be known as the [[Crisis of the Late Middle Ages]] was under its way. When came the [[Black Death]] of 1348, it sealed a sudden end to the previous period of massive scientific change. The plague killed a third of the people in Europe, especially in the crowded conditions of the towns, where the heart of innovations lay. Recurrences of the plague and other disasters caused a continuing decline of population for a century.
===Renaissance of the 15th century===
[[Image:Da Vinci Vitruve Luc Viatour.jpg|left|thumb|right|140px|[[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s [[Vitruvian Man]].]]
:''See also: [[History of science in the Renaissance]]''
The 15th century saw the beginning of the cultural movement of the [[Renaissance]]. The rediscovery of Greek scientific texts, both ancient and medieval, was accelerated as the [[Byzantine Empire]] [[Fall of Constantinople|fell]] to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] and many [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] scholars sought refuge in the West, particularly [[Italy]]. Also, the invention of [[printing]] was to have great effect on European society: the facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and allowed a faster propagation of new ideas.
But this initial period is usually seen as one of scientific backwardness.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} There were no new developments in physics or astronomy,{{Fact|date=July 2008}} and the reverence for classical sources further enshrined the [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]] and [[Ptolemy|Ptolemaic]] views of the universe. [[Humanism]] stressed that nature came to be viewed as an animate spiritual creation that was not governed by laws or mathematics. At the same time philosophy lost much of its rigour as the rules of [[logic]] and deduction were seen as secondary to intuition and emotion.{{Fact|date=July 2008}}
It would not be until the Renaissance moved to Northern Europe that science would be revived, with such figures as [[Copernicus]], [[Francis Bacon]], and [[Descartes]] (though Descartes is often described as an early [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] thinker, rather than a late Renaissance one).
===Dark Ages?===
In the 19th century, the entire Middle Ages were called the "[[Dark Ages|Dark Age]]", expressing contempt for an anti-scientific, priest-ridden, superstitious time. However, a radical reevaluation occurred in the early 20th century, based on the wealth of information from the High and Late Middle Ages. When historians now use the term "Dark Ages" to refer to the Early Middle Ages, it is intended to express the idea that the period seems "dark" only because of the shortage of historical records compared with later times.
The stereotype of the entire Middle Ages as a "[[Dark Ages|Dark Age]]" supposedly caused by the Christian Church for allegedly "placing the word of religious authorities over personal experience and rational activity" is called a ''caricature'' by the contemporary historians of science [[David C. Lindberg|David Lindberg]] and [[Ronald Numbers]]<ref>David C. Lindberg, "The Medieval Church Encounters the Classical Tradition: Saint Augustine, Roger Bacon, and the Handmaiden Metaphor", in David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, ed. ''When Science & Christianity Meet'', (Chicago: University of Chicago Pr., 2003), p.8</ref>, who say "the late medieval scholar rarely experienced the coercive power of the church and would have regarded himself as free (particularly in the natural sciences) to follow reason and observation wherever they led. There was no warfare between science and the church".<ref>quoted in the essay of Ted Peters about Science and Religion at "Lindsay Jones (editor in chief). Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition. Thomson Gale. 2005. p.8182"</ref> Historian [[Edward Grant]] writes: "If revolutionary rational thoughts were expressed in the Age of Reason [the 18th century], they were only made possible because of the long medieval tradition that established the use of reason as one of the most important of human activities".<ref>Edward Grant, ''God and Reason in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge 2001, p. 9.</ref>
For example, the claim that people of the [[Middle Ages]] widely believed that the [[Flat Earth|Earth was flat]] was first propagated in the 19th century<ref name="flat">Jeffrey Russell. Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians. Praeger Paperback; New Ed edition (January 30, 1997). ISBN-10: 027595904X; ISBN-13: 978-0275959043.</ref> and is still very common in popular culture. This claim is mistaken, as Lindberg and Numbers write: "there was scarcely a Christian scholar of the Middle Ages who did not acknowledge [Earth's] sphericity and even know its approximate circumference."<ref>Quotation from [[David C. Lindberg]] and [[Ronald L. Numbers]] in [http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1987/PSCF9-87Lindberg.html Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science]. Studies in the History of Science and Christianity.</ref><ref name="flat"/> Misconceptions such as: "the Church prohibited autopsies and dissections during the Middle Ages", "the rise of Christianity killed off ancient science", and "the medieval Christian church suppressed the growth of the natural sciences",<!--"the medieval Christians though that the world was flat", commented out to reduce redundancy--> are all reported by Numbers as examples of widely popular myths that still pass as historical truth, even though they are not supported by current historical research.<ref>{{cite video | people=[[Ronald Numbers]] (Lecturer) | year=2006 | date=May 11 | url=http://www.st-edmunds.cam.ac.uk/faraday/Lectures.php | title=Myths and Truths in Science and Religion: A historical perspective | medium=Video Lecture | location=University of Cambridge (Howard Building, Downing College) | publisher=The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion}}</ref>
===Great names of science in medieval Europe===
'''[[Anthemius of Tralles]]''' (ca. 474 – ca. 534), a professor of geometry and architecture, authored many influential works on mathematics and was one of the architects of the famed [[Hagia Sophia]], the largest building in the world at its time. His works were among the most important source texts in the Arab world and Western Europe for centuries after.
'''[[John Philoponus]]''' (ca. 490–ca. 570), also known as ''John the Grammarian'', a Byzantine philosopher, launched a revolution in the understanding of physics by critiquing and correcting the earlier works of [[Aristotle]]. In the process he proposed important concepts such as a rudimentary notion of [[inertia]] and the invariant acceleration of falling objects. Although his works were repressed at various times in the Byzantine Empire, because of religious controversy, they would nevertheless become important to the understanding of physics throughout Europe and the Arab world.
'''[[Paul of Aegina]]''' (ca. 625–ca. 690), considered by some to be the greatest Byzantine surgeon, developed many novel surgical techniques and authored the medical encyclopedia ''[[Medical Compendium in Seven Books]]''. The book on surgery in particular was the definitive treatise in Europe and the Islamic world for hundreds of years.
[[Image:Nuremberg Chronicle Venerable Bede.jpg|90px|left|thumb|The Venerable Bede]]'''[[Bede|The Venerable Bede]]''' (ca. 672–735), monk of the monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow who wrote a work ''On the Nature of Things'', several books on the mathematical / astronomical subject of [[Computus#History|computus]], the most influential entitled ''On the Reckoning of Time''. He made original discoveries concerning the nature of the tides and his works on computus became required elements of the training of [[clergy]], and thus greatly influenced early medieval knowledge of the natural world.
'''[[Abbas Ibn Firnas]]''' (810 – 887), a [[polymath]] and inventor in [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Spain]], made contributions in a variety of fields and is most known for his contributions to glass-making and aviation. He developed novel ways of manufacturing and using glass . He was also the first to attempt controlled flight by flying a primitive hang glider in 875 (the origin of the concept is often erroneously attributed to [[Roger Bacon|Bacon]] or [[Leonardo da Vinci|da Vinci]]).
'''[[Pope Sylvester II]]''' (c. 946–1003), a scholar, teacher, mathematician, and later [[pope]], reintroduced the [[abacus]] and [[armillary sphere]] to Western Europe after they had been lost for centuries following the [[Greco-Roman]] era. He was also responsible in part for the spread of the [[Hindu-Arabic numeral system]] in Western Europe.
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Albucasis.gif|90px|right|thumb|Abulcasis (Syrian post stamp)]] -->
'''[[Maslamah Ibn Ahmad al-Majriti|Maslamah al-Majriti]]''' (d. 1008), a mathematician, astronomer, and chemist in [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Spain]], made novel contributions in many areas, from new techniques for surveying to updating and improving the astronomical tables of [[al-Khwarizmi]] and inventing a process for producing [[mercury oxide]].<ref>''[http://www.muslimheritage.com/day_life/default.cfm?yearlist=1&Oldpage=1&ArticleID=431 Maslama ibn Ahmad Al-Majriti - 1007]'', Muslim Heritage: Muslim Scholars, retrieved 21 March 2008</ref> He is most famous, though, for having helped transmit knowledge of mathematics and astronomy to Muslim Spain and Christian Western Europe.
'''[[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi|Abulcasis]]''' (936-1013), a physician and scientist in [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Spain]], is considered to be the father of modern surgery. He wrote numerous medical texts, developed many innovative surgical instruments, and developed a variety of new surgical techniques and practices. His texts were considered the definitive works on surgery in Europe until the Renaissance.
'''[[Constantine the African]]''' (c. 1020–1087), a Christian native of [[Carthage]], is best known for his translating of ancient [[Ancient Greek medicine|Greek]] and [[Medicine in ancient Rome|Roman]] medical texts from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] into [[Latin]] while working at the [[Schola Medica Salernitana]] in [[Salerno]], [[Italy]]. Among the works he translated were those of [[Hippocrates]] and [[Galen]].
'''[[Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī|Arzachel]]''' (1028–1087), the foremost [[astronomy|astronomer]] of the early second millennium, lived in [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Spain]] and greatly expanded the understanding and accuracy of planetary models and terrestrial measurements used for navigation. He developed key technologies including the [[equatorium]] and universal latitude-independent [[astrolabe]].
'''[[Avempace]]''' (d. 1138), a famous physicist from [[Muslim Spain]] who had an important influence on later physicists such as [[Galileo]].<ref>Ernest A. Moody (June 1951). "Galileo and Avempace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment (II)", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''12''' (3), p. 375-422 [379].</ref> He was the first to theorize the concept of a [[Reaction (physics)|reaction]] force for every force exerted.<ref name=Pines-1964/>
'''[[Ibn Zuhr|Avenzoar]]''' (1091–1161), from [[Muslim Spain]], was the earliest known [[experiment]]al surgeon,<ref name=Abdel-Halim/> for introducing an [[Scientific method|experimental method]] in [[surgery]], as he was the first to employ [[animal testing]] in order to experiment with surgical procedures before applying them to human patients.<ref name=Rabie>Rabie E. Abdel-Halim (2005), "Contributions of Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) to the progress of surgery: A study and translations from his book Al-Taisir", ''Saudi Medical Journal 2005; Vol. 26 (9): 1333-1339''.</ref> He also performed the earliest [[dissection]]s and postmortem [[autopsies]] on both humans as well as animals.<ref>[http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Islamic+medicine Islamic medicine], ''[[Hutchinson Encyclopedia]]''.</ref>
[[Image:grosseteste-color.png|90px|right|thumb|Robert Grosseteste]]
'''[[Robert Grosseteste]]''' (1168–1253), [[Bishop of Lincoln]], was the central character of the [[England|English]] intellectual movement in the first half of the 13th century and is considered the founder of scientific thought in [[Oxford]]. He had a great interest in the natural world and wrote texts on the mathematical sciences of [[optics]], [[astronomy]] and [[geometry]]. In his commentaries on Aristotle's scientific works, he affirmed that experiments should be used in order to verify a theory, testing its consequences. [[Roger Bacon]] was influenced by his work on optics and astronomy.<ref>A. C. Crombie, ''Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100–1700'', (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971)</ref>
[[Image:AlbertusMagnus.jpg|left|90px|thumb|St. Albert the Great]]
'''[[Albert the Great]]''' (1193–1280), ''Doctor Universalis'', was one of the most prominent representatives of the philosophical tradition emerging from the [[Dominican Order]]. He is one of the thirty-three [[Saints]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] honored with the title of [[Doctor of the Church]]. He became famous for his vast knowledge and for his defence of the pacific coexistence between science and religion. Albert was an essential figure in introducing Greek and Islamic science into the medieval universities, although not without hesitation with regard to particular Aristotelian theses. In one of his most famous sayings he asserted: "Science does not consist in ratifying what others say, but of searching for the causes of phenomena." [[Thomas Aquinas]] was his most famous pupil.
'''[[Jordanus de Nemore]]''' (late 12th, early 13th century) was one of the major pure [[mathematics|mathematicians]] of the Middle Ages. He wrote treatises on [[mechanics]] ("the science of weights"), on basic and advanced [[arithmetic]], on [[algebra]], on [[geometry]], and on the mathematics of [[stereographic projection]].
[[Image:Roger-bacon-statue.jpg|right|90px|thumb|Roger Bacon]]'''[[Roger Bacon]]''' (1214–94), ''Doctor Admirabilis'', joined the [[Order of Friars Minor|Franciscan Order]] around 1240 where, influenced by Grosseteste, ibn Firnas and others, he dedicated himself to studies where he implemented the observation of nature and experimentation as the foundation of natural knowledge. Bacon was responsible for making the concept of "[[laws of nature]]" widespread, and contributed in such areas as [[mechanics]], [[geography]] and, most of all, optics.
The optical research of Grosseteste and Bacon established optics as an area of study at the medieval university and formed the basis for a continuous tradition of research into optics that went all the way up to the beginning of the 17th century and the foundation of modern optics by Kepler.<ref>Lindberg, David C. "Theories of Vision from Al-Kindi to Kepler" University of Chicago Press 1976 pp.94-187</ref>
'''[[Ibn al-Baitar]]''' (d. 1248), a botanist and pharmacist in [[Al-Andalus|Muslim Spain]], researched over 1400 types of plants, foods, and drugs and compiled pharmaceutical and medical encyclopedias documenting his research. These were used in the Islamic world and Europe until the 19th century.
[[Image:Saint Thomas Aquinas.jpg|thumb|90px|left|St. Thomas Aquinas]]
'''[[Thomas Aquinas]]''' (1227–74), ''Doctor Angelicus'', was an [[Italy|Italian]] [[theologian]] and friar in the [[Dominican Order]]. As his mentor Albert the Great, he is a Catholic Saint and Doctor of the Church. His interests were not only in [[philosophy]]; he was also interested in [[alchemy]], having written an important treatise titled ''Aurora Consurgens''. However, his greatest contribution to the scientific development of the period was having been mostly responsible for the incorporation of [[Aristotelianism]] into the [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] tradition, and in particular his ''Commentary on Aristotle's Physics'' was responsible for developing one of the most important innovations in the history of physics, first posited by his mentor Averroes for celestial bodies only, namely the notion of the inertial resistant mass of all bodies universally, subsequently further developed by Kepler and Newton in the 17th century. (See Pierre Duhem's analysis ''The 12th century birth of the notion of mass which advised modern mechanics.'' from his ''Systeme Du Monde'' at [http://ftp.colloquium.co.uk/~barrett/void.html])
[[Image:JohnDunsScotus.jpg|thumb|90px|right|Duns Scotus]]
'''[[Duns Scotus|John Duns Scotus]]''' (1266–1308), ''Doctor Subtilis'', was a member of the [[Order of Friars Minor|Franciscan Order]], philosopher and theologian. Emerging from the academic environment of the [[University of Oxford]]. where the presence of Grosseteste and Bacon was still palpable, he had a different view on the relationship between [[reason]] and [[faith]] as that of Thomas Aquinas. For Duns Scotus, the truths of faith could not be comprehended through the use of reason. Philosophy, hence, should not be a servant to theology, but act independently. He was the mentor of one of the greatest names of philosophy in the Middle Ages: [[William of Ockham]].
'''[[William of Ockham]]''' (1285–1350), ''Doctor Invincibilis'', was an [[England|English]] [[Order of Friars Minor|Franciscan]] friar, philosopher, [[logic]]ian and theologian. Ockham defended the principle of [[parsimony]], which could already be seen in the works of his mentor Duns Scotus. His principle later became known as [[Occam's Razor]] and states that if there are various equally valid explanations for a fact, then the simplest one should be chosen. This became a foundation of what would come to be known as the [[scientific method]] and one of the pilars of [[reductionism]] in science. Ockham probably died of the [[Black Plague]]. [[Jean Buridan]] and [[Nicole Oresme]] were his followers.
'''[[Jean Buridan]]''' (1300–58) was a [[France|French]] philosopher and priest. Although he was one of the most famous and influent philosophers of the late Middle Ages, his work today is not renowned by people other than philosophers and historians. One of his most significant contributions to science was the development of the [[Impetus|theory of Impetus]], that explained the movement of projectiles and objects in [[free-fall]]. This theory gave way to the [[Dynamics (mechanics)|dynamics]] of [[Galileo Galilei]] and for [[Isaac Newton]]'s famous principle of [[Inertia]].
[[Image:Oresme-small.jpg|right|thumb|90px|right|Nicole Oresme]]'''[[Nicole Oresme]]''' (c. 1323–82) was an intellectual genius and perhaps the most original thinker of the 14th century. A theologian and [[bishop of Lisieux]], he was one of the principal propagators of the modern sciences. Notwithstanding his strictly scientific contributions, Oresme strongly opposed [[astrology]] and speculated about the possibility of [[extraterrestrial life]]. He was the last great European intellectual to live before the [[Black Plague]], an event that had a very negative impact in the intellectual life of the ending period of the Middle Ages.
==Islamic world==
{{main|Islamic science}}
{{see also|Timeline of Muslim scientists and engineers|List of Muslim scientists|Islamic Golden Age|Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe}}
[[Image:Islamic MedText c1500.jpg|thumb|left|Sample of Islamic medical text]]
===Overview===
In the [[Middle East]], Greek philosophy was able to find some short-lived support by the newly created [[Caliphate|Islamic Caliphate]] ([[Islamic Empire]]). With the spread of [[Islam]] in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Islamic scholarship lasted until the 15th century. In the [[Islamic World]], the Middle Ages is known as the [[Islamic Golden Age]], when Islamic civilization and Islamic scholarship flourished. This scholarship was aided by several factors. The use of a single language, [[Arabic language|Arabic]], allowed communication without need of a translator. Translations of [[Greek mathematics|Greek]] texts from [[Egypt]] and the [[Byzantine Empire]], and [[Sanskrit]] texts from [[Indian mathematics|India]], provided Islamic scholars a knowledge base to build upon.
In earlier Islamic versions of the [[scientific method]], [[ethics]] played an important role. Islamic scholars used previous work in medicine, astronomy and mathematics as bedrock to develop new fields such as [[algebra]],<ref name=Gandz/> [[chemistry]],<ref name=Durant/> [[clinical pharmacology]],<ref>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [448].</ref> [[experimental physics]],<ref>Rüdiger Thiele (2005). "In Memoriam: Matthias Schramm", ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy'' '''15''', p. 329–331. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> [[sociology]],<ref name=Akhtar/> and [[spherical trigonometry]].<ref name=Syed/>
[[Image:Ibn haithem portrait.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen), writer of the ''[[Book of Optics]]'', and pioneer of [[scientific method]], modern [[optics]], and [[experimental physics]].]]
===Scientific method===
[[Muslim]] scientists placed far greater emphasis on [[experiment]] than had the [[Greeks]]. This led to the [[scientific method]] being developed in the Muslim world,<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1928), ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 190-202, G. Allen & Unwin Ltd: {{quote|"What we call science arose as a result of new methods of experiment, observation, and measurement, which were introduced into Europe by the [[Arab]]s. [...] Science is the most momentous contribution of [[Arab world|Arab civilization]] to the [[modern world]], but its fruits were slow in ripening. [...] The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence....The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. [...] The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigations, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to the Greek temperament."}}</ref> where significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen) on [[optics]], in his ''[[Book of Optics]]'' ''circa'' 1021.<ref name=Gorini>Rosanna Gorini (2003). "Al-Haytham the Man of Experience. First Steps in the Science of Vision", ''International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine''. Institute of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology, Rome, Italy: {{quote|"According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable."}}</ref><ref name=Agar>David Agar (2001). [http://users.jyu.fi/~daagar/index_files/arabs.html Arabic Studies in Physics and Astronomy During 800 - 1400 AD]. [[University of Jyväskylä]].</ref> The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally [[empiricism|empirical]] orientation, which began among Muslim scientists. Ibn al-Haytham is also regarded as the father of optics, especially for his empirical proof of the intromission theory of [[light]]. Some have also described Ibn al-Haytham as the "first [[scientist]]" for his development of the scientific method.<ref>Bradley Steffens (2006), ''Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist'', Morgan Reynolds Publishing, ISBN 1599350246.</ref>
===Alchemy and chemistry===
{{main|Alchemy and chemistry in Islam}}
Muslim [[chemist]]s and [[Alchemy (Islam)|alchemists]] played an important role in the foundation of modern [[chemistry]]. Scholars such as [[Will Durant]] and [[Alexander von Humboldt]] regard Muslim chemists to be founders of chemistry,<ref name=Ajram>Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). ''Miracle of Islamic Science'', Appendix B. Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0911119434.</ref><ref name=Durant>[[Will Durant]] (1980). ''The Age of Faith ([[The Story of Civilization]], Volume 4)'', p. 162-186. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671012002.</ref> particularly [[Geber]], who was a pioneer of chemistry,<ref>{{citation|first=Zygmunt S.|last=Derewenda|year=2007|title=On wine, chirality and crystallography|journal=Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations of Crystallography|volume=64|pages=246-258 [247]}}</ref><ref>John Warren (2005). "War and the Cultural Heritage of Iraq: a sadly mismanaged affair", ''Third World Quarterly'', Volume 26, Issue 4 & 5, p. 815-830.</ref> for introducing an early [[experiment]]al [[scientific method]] within the field, as well as the [[alembic]], [[still]], [[retort]],<ref name=Vallely/> and the [[chemical process]]es of pure [[distillation]], [[filtration]], [[Sublimation (chemistry)|sublimation]],<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 195.</ref> [[liquefaction]], [[crystallisation]], [[purification]], [[oxidisation]] and [[evaporation]].<ref name=Vallely>Paul Vallely, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060311/ai_n16147544 How Islamic Inventors Changed the World], ''[[The Independent]]'', [[11 March]] [[2006]].</ref>
The study of traditional [[alchemy]] and the theory of the [[Philosopher's stone|transmutation of metals]] were first refuted by [[al-Kindi]],<ref>Felix Klein-Frank (2001), "Al-Kindi", in [[Oliver Leaman]] & [[Hossein Nasr]], ''History of Islamic Philosophy'', p. 174. London: [[Routledge]].</ref> followed by [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]],<ref>Michael E. Marmura (1965). "''An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. Conceptions of Nature and Methods Used for Its Study by the Ikhwan Al-Safa'an, Al-Biruni, and Ibn Sina'' by Seyyed [[Hossein Nasr]]", ''Speculum'' '''40''' (4), p. 744-746.</ref> [[Avicenna]],<ref>[[Robert Briffault]] (1938). ''The Making of Humanity'', p. 196-197.</ref> and [[Ibn Khaldun]]. In his ''Doubts about Galen'', [[al-Razi]] was the first to prove both [[Aristotle]]'s theory of [[classical element]]s and [[Galen]]'s theory of [[humorism]] false using an experiment.<ref name=Stolyarov>G. Stolyarov II (2002), "Rhazes: The Thinking Western Physician", ''The Rational Argumentator'', Issue VI.</ref> [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] described an early version of the concept of [[conservation of mass]], noting that a body of [[matter]] is able to change, but is not able to disappear.<ref>Farid Alakbarov (Summer 2001). [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/92_folder/92_articles/92_tusi.html A 13th-Century Darwin? Tusi's Views on Evolution], ''Azerbaijan International'' '''9''' (2).</ref>
===Applied sciences===
{{main|Inventions in the Islamic world|Muslim Agricultural Revolution}}
{{see also|Timeline of Muslim scientists and engineers}}
In the [[applied science]]s, a significant number of inventions and technologies were produced by medieval Muslim scientists and engineers such as [[Abbas Ibn Firnas]], [[Taqi al-Din]], and particularly [[al-Jazari]], who is considered a pioneer in modern engineering.<ref>[http://www.mtestudios.com/news_100_years.htm 1000 Years of Knowledge Rediscovered at Ibn Battuta Mall], MTE Studios.</ref> According to [[Fielding H. Garrison]], the "[[Saracen]]s themselves were the originators not only of [[algebra]], [[chemistry]], and [[geology]], but of many of the so-called improvements or refinements of civilization, such as [[Street light|street lamp]]s, [[window]]-[[Paned window|panes]], [[firework]], [[string instrument|stringed instruments]], [[cultivation|cultivated]] [[fruit]]s, [[perfume]]s, [[spice]]s, etc."<ref name=Garrison>[[Fielding H. Garrison]], ''An Introduction to the History of Medicine: with Medical Chronology, Suggestions for Study and Biblographic Data'', p. 86</ref>
During the [[Muslim Agricultural Revolution]], Muslim scientists made significant advances in [[botany]] and laid the foundations of [[agricultural science]]. Muslim botanists and [[agriculturist]]s demonstrated advanced [[agronomy|agronomical]], agrotechnical and [[economic]] knowledge in areas such as [[meteorology]], [[climatology]], [[hydrology]], [[soil]] occupation, and the [[economy]] and [[management]] of agricultural [[enterprise]]s. They also demosntrated agricultural knowledge in areas such as [[pedology]], agricultural [[ecology]], [[irrigation]], preparation of soil, [[planting]], spreading of [[manure]], killing [[herb]]s, [[sowing]], cutting [[tree]]s, [[grafting]], [[pruning]] [[vine]], [[prophylaxis]], [[phytotherapy]], the care and improvement of [[Plant tissue culture|cultures]] and [[plant]]s, and the [[harvest]] and storage of [[crops]].<ref>Toufic Fahd (1996), "Botany and agriculture", p. 849, in {{Harv|Morelon|Rashed|1996|pp=813-852}}</ref>
===Astronomy and mathematics===
{{main|Islamic astronomy|Islamic mathematics}}
{{see also|Maragheh observatory}}
In [[astronomy]], [[Al-Battani]] improved the measurements of [[Hipparchus]], preserved in the translation of the Greek ''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. Key technologies such as the [[equitorium]] and universal latitude-independent [[astrolabe]] were developed by [[Arzachel]].<ref>Houtsma, M. Th.; Donzel, E. van: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=GEl6N2tQeawC E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam]'', BRILL, 1993, ISBN 9004082654</ref> [[Al-Biruni]] was the first to conduct elaborate [[experiment]]s related to astronomical phenomena.<ref name=Biruni>{{MacTutor|id=Al-Biruni|title=Al-Biruni}}</ref><ref name=Zahoor>Dr. A. Zahoor (1997), [http://www.unhas.ac.id/~rhiza/saintis/biruni.html Abu Raihan Muhammad al-Biruni], [[Hasanuddin University]].</ref> [[Ibn al-Shatir]] produced the first model of [[Moon|lunar]] motion which matched experimental observations, as well as the first [[Sun|solar]] model to eliminate epicycles in order to match observations.<ref name=Saliba-1994>[[George Saliba]] (1994), ''A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam'', pp. 233-234 & 240, [[New York University Press]], ISBN 0814780237</ref> This and other developments in planetary models by Al-Battani, [[Averroes]], and [[Maragheh observatory|Maragha astronomers]] such as [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] ([[Tusi-couple]]) and [[Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi]] (Urdi lemma) are believed to have been used by the [[Renaissance]] astronomer [[Copernicus]] in his [[Copernican heliocentrism|heliocentric model]].<ref name=Saliba-2007/> The [[Earth's rotation]] and [[heliocentrism]] were also discussed by several Muslim astronomers such as [[Biruni]], [[Al-Sijzi]] and [[Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi]],<ref>Seyyed [[Hossein Nasr]] (1964), ''An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines,'' (Cambridge: Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press), p. 135-136</ref> while the first empirical [[observation]]al evidence of the Earth's rotation was given by [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] and [[Ali al-Qushji]], and [[al-Birjandi]] developed an early hypothesis on "circular [[inertia]]."<ref name=Ragep>F. Jamil Ragep (2001), "Tusi and Copernicus: The Earth's Motion in Context", ''Science in Context'' '''14''' (1-2), p. 145–163. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> [[Natural philosophy]] was also separated from astronomy by [[Alhazen]], Ibn al-Shatir,<ref>Roshdi Rashed (2007). "The Celestial Kinematics of Ibn al-Haytham", ''Arabic Sciences and Philosophy'' '''17''', p. 7-55. [[Cambridge University Press]].</ref> and al-Qushji.<ref name=Ragep/>
In [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]], [[Al-Khwarizmi]] gave his name to the concept of the [[algorithm]], while the term [[algebra]] is derived from his publication ''[[The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing|Al-Jabr]]''. He was the first to recognize algebra as a distinct field of mathematics.<ref name=Gandz>Solomon Gandz (1936), ''The sources of al-Khwarizmi's algebra'', Osiris '''I''', p. 263–277: "In a sense, Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than Diophantus because Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers."</ref><ref>Serish Nanisetti, [http://www.hindu.com/yw/2006/06/23/stories/2006062301070600.htm Father of algorithms and algebra], ''[[The Hindu]]'', June 23, 2006.</ref> What is now known as [[Arabic numerals]] originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians made several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of [[Decimal separator|decimal point]] notation. Other achievements of medieval Muslim mathematicians included the development of [[spherical trigonometry]],<ref name=Syed>{{cite book |last=Syed |first=M. H. |title=Islam and Science |year=2005 |publisher=Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. |isbn=8-1261-1345-6 |pages=71}}</ref> the discovery of all the [[trigonometric function]]s besides sine, [[al-Kindi]]'s introduction of [[cryptanalysis]] and [[frequency analysis]],<ref>Simon Singh, ''The Code Book'', p. 14-20.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=372 |title=Al-Kindi, Cryptgraphy, Codebreaking and Ciphers |accessdate=2007-01-12 |format=HTML}}</ref> [[al-Karaji]]'s introduction of algebraic [[calculus]]<ref>F. Woepcke (1853). ''Extrait du Fakhri, traité d'Algèbre par Abou Bekr Mohammed Ben Alhacan Alkarkhi''. [[Paris]].</ref> and [[Mathematical proof|proof]] by [[mathematical induction]],<ref>Victor J. Katz (1998). ''History of Mathematics: An Introduction'', p. 255-259. [[Addison-Wesley]]. ISBN 0321016181.</ref> the development of [[analytic geometry]] and the earliest general formula for [[infinitesimal]] and [[integral]] calculus by [[Ibn al-Haytham]],<ref>Victor J. Katz (1995). "Ideas of Calculus in Islam and India", ''Mathematics Magazine'' '''68''' (3), p. 163-174.</ref> the beginning of [[algebraic geometry]] by [[Omar Khayyam]],<ref>R. Rashed (1994). ''The development of Arabic mathematics: between arithmetic and algebra''. [[London]].</ref><ref>{{MacTutor|class=HistTopics|id=Arabic_mathematics|title=Arabic mathematics: forgotten brilliance?|year=1999}}</ref> the first refutations of [[Euclidean geometry]] and the [[parallel postulate]] by [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] and the first attempt at a [[non-Euclidean geometry]] by Sadr al-Din,<ref name=Katz>Victor J. Katz (1998), ''History of Mathematics: An Introduction'', p. 270-271, [[Addison-Wesley]], ISBN 0321016181</ref> and the development of [[Mathematical notation|symbolic algebra]] by [[Abū al-Hasan ibn Alī al-Qalasādī]].<ref>{{MacTutor Biography|id=Al-Qalasadi|title= Abu'l Hasan ibn Ali al Qalasadi}}</ref>
===Earth sciences===
{{main|Islamic geography}}
{{see also|Muslim Agricultural Revolution}}
Muslim scientists made a number of contributions to the [[Earth science]]s. [[Alkindus]] was the first to introduce [[experiment]]ation into the Earth sciences.<ref name=Plinio>Plinio Prioreschi, "Al-Kindi, A Precursor Of The Scientific Revolution", ''Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine'', 2002 (2): 17-19.</ref> About 900, [[Al-Battani]] improved the [[precision]] of the measurement of the [[precession]] of the earth's axis, thus continuing a millennium's legacy of [[measurements]] in his own land ([[Babylonia]] and [[Chaldea]]- the area now known as [[Iraq]]). [[Biruni]] is considered a pioneer of [[geodesy]] for his important contributions to the field.<ref name=Ahmed>Akbar S. Ahmed (1984). "Al-Beruni: The First Anthropologist", ''RAIN'' '''60''', p. 9-10.</ref><ref>H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", ''Cooperation South Journal'' '''1'''.</ref> [[Avicenna]] hypothesized on two causes of [[mountain]]s in ''[[The Book of Healing]]''. In [[cartography]], the [[Piri Reis map]] drawn by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] cartographer [[Piri Reis]] in 1513, was one of the earliest [[world map]]s to include the [[Americas]], and perhaps the first to include [[Antarctica]]. His map of the world was considered the most accurate in the 16th century.
The earliest known treatises dealing with [[environmentalism]] and [[environmental science]], especially [[pollution]], were Arabic treatises written by [[al-Kindi]], [[al-Razi]], [[Ibn Al-Jazzar]], [[al-Tamimi]], [[al-Masihi]], [[Avicenna]], [[Ali ibn Ridwan]], [[Abd-el-latif]], and [[Ibn al-Nafis]]. Their works covered a number of subjects related to pollution such as [[air pollution]], [[water pollution]], [[soil contamination]], [[municipal solid waste]] mishandling, and [[environmental impact assessment]]s of certain localities.<ref>L. Gari (2002), "Arabic Treatises on Environmental Pollution up to the End of the Thirteenth Century", ''Environment and History'' '''8''' (4), pp. 475-488.</ref>
[[Image:Avicenna Persian Physician.jpg|thumb|right|[[Avicenna]], writer of ''[[The Book of Healing]]'' and ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', and pioneer of [[clinical pharmacology]] and [[experimental medicine]].]]
===Medicine===
{{main|Islamic medicine}}
{{see also|Ophthalmology in medieval Islam|Bimaristan}}
Muslim [[physician]]s made a number of significant contributions to [[medicine]]. They set up the earliest dedicated [[hospital]]s in the modern sense of the word,<ref name=Sarton>[[George Sarton]], ''Introduction to the History of Science''.<br>([[cf.]] Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997), [http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/Introl1.html Quotations From Famous Historians of Science], Cyberistan.</ref> including the first [[psychiatric hospital]]s<ref>{{Harvard reference |first1=Hanafy A. |last1=Youssef |first2=Fatma A. |last2=Youssef |first3=T. R. |last3=Dening |year=1996 |title=Evidence for the existence of schizophrenia in medieval Islamic society |journal=History of Psychiatry |volume=7 |pages=55-62 [57]}}</ref> and the first [[medical school]]s which issued [[diploma]]s to students qualified to become [[doctors of medicine]].<ref name=Glubb>{{citation|last=Sir Glubb|first=John Bagot|author-link=John Bagot Glubb|year=1969|title=A Short History of the Arab Peoples|url=http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/quote2.html#glubb|accessdate=2008-01-25}}</ref>
[[Al-Kindi]] wrote the ''[[De Gradibus]]'', in which he first demonstrated the application of [[quantification]] and mathematics to medicine and pharmacology, such as a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of [[drug]]s and the determination in advance of the most critical days of a patient's illness.<ref> Felix Klein-Frank (2001), ''Al-Kindi'', in [[Oliver Leaman]] and [[Hossein Nasr]], ''History of Islamic Philosophy'', p. 172. [[Routledge]], London.</ref> [[Abu al-Qasim]] (Abulcasis) helped lay the foudations for modern [[surgery]],<ref>A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M. Moreno-Martinez (2002). "Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its influence on medieval scholastic medicine", ''Revista de neurología'' '''34''' (9), p. 877-892.</ref> with his ''Kitab [[al-Tasrif]]'', in which he invented numerous [[surgical instruments]].<ref name=Saad>Bashar Saad, Hassan Azaizeh, Omar Said (October 2005). "Tradition and Perspectives of Arab Herbal Medicine: A Review", ''Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine'' '''2''' (4), p. 475-479 [476]. [[Oxford University Press]].</ref> [[Avicenna]] helped lay the foundations for modern [[medicine]],<ref>Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture: Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", ''Becka J.'' '''119''' (1), p. 17-23.</ref> with ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'', which was responsible for introducing systematic [[experiment]]ation and [[quantification]] in [[physiology]],<ref>Katharine Park (March 1990). "''Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500'' by Nancy G. Siraisi", ''The Journal of Modern History'' '''62''' (1), p. 169-170.</ref> and the introduction of [[experimental medicine]],<ref>{{citation|journal=European Review|year=2008|volume=16|pages=219-27|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|title=Islamic Pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Theories and Substances|first=Danielle|last=Jacquart}}</ref> [[clinical trial]]s,<ref>David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). "Arab Roots of European Medicine", ''Heart Views'' '''4''' (2).</ref> [[randomized controlled trial]]s,<ref>Jonathan D. Eldredge (2003), "The Randomised Controlled Trial design: unrecognized opportunities for health sciences librarianship", ''Health Information and Libraries Journal'' '''20''', p. 34–44 [36].</ref><ref>Bernard S. Bloom, Aurelia Retbi, Sandrine Dahan, Egon Jonsson (2000), "Evaluation Of Randomized Controlled Trials On Complementary And Alternative Medicine", ''International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care'' '''16''' (1), p. 13–21 [19].</ref>
[[efficacy]] tests,<ref>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [449].</ref><ref>Walter J. Daly and D. Craig Brater (2000), "Medieval contributions to the search for truth in clinical medicine", ''Perspectives in Biology and Medicine'' '''43''' (4), p. 530–540 [536], [[Johns Hopkins University Press]].</ref>
and [[clinical pharmacology]].<ref>D. Craig Brater and Walter J. Daly (2000), "Clinical pharmacology in the Middle Ages: Principles that presage the 21st century", ''Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics'' '''67''' (5), p. 447-450 [448].</ref> [[Ibn Zuhr]] (Avenzoar) was the earliest known [[experiment]]al surgeon.<ref name=Abdel-Halim>Rabie E. Abdel-Halim (2006), "Contributions of Muhadhdhab Al-Deen Al-Baghdadi to the progress of medicine and urology", ''Saudi Medical Journal'' '''27''' (11): 1631-1641.</ref> [[Ibn al-Nafis]] laid the foundations for [[Cardiovascular physiology|circulatory physiology]],<ref>Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", ''Heart Views'' '''5''' (2), p. 74-85 [80].</ref> as he was the first to describe the [[pulmonary circulation]]<ref>S. A. Al-Dabbagh (1978). "Ibn Al-Nafis and the pulmonary circulation", ''[[The Lancet]]'' '''1''': 1148.</ref> and the [[capillary]]<ref name=Paul>Dr. Paul Ghalioungui (1982), "The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation", ''Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis'', Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait ([[cf.]] [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drpaul.html The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation], ''Encyclopedia of Islamic World'')</ref> and [[coronary circulation]]s.<ref>Husain F. Nagamia (2003), "Ibn al-Nafīs: A Biographical Sketch of the Discoverer of Pulmonary and Coronary Circulation", ''Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine'' '''1''', p. 22–28. <br> Quotes [[Ibn al-Nafis]], ''Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon'':
{{quote|"The notion (of Ibn Sînâ) that the blood in the right side of the heart is to nourish the heart is not true at all, for the nourishment of the heart is from the blood that goes through the vessels that permeate the body of the heart."}}</ref><ref>Matthijs Oudkerk (2004), ''Coronary Radiology'', "Preface", [[Springer Science+Business Media]], ISBN 3540436405.</ref>
===Physics===
{{main|Islamic physics}}
[[Experimental physics]] had its roots in the work of the 11th-century Muslim [[polymath]] and [[physicist]], [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen),<ref>{{citation|first=Rüdiger|last=Thiele|year=2005|title=In Memoriam: Matthias Schramm|journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|volume=15|pages=329–331}}</ref> who is considered the "father of modern [[optics]]"<ref name=Verma>R. L. Verma, "Al-Hazen: father of modern optics", ''Al-Arabi'', 8 (1969): 12-13</ref> and one of the most important [[physicist]]s of the [[Middle Ages]],<ref name=Sarton>[[George Sarton]], ''Introduction to the History of Science'', "The Time of Al-Biruni"</ref> for having developed the earliest [[experiment]]al [[scientific method]] in his ''[[Book of Optics]]''.<ref name=Gorini>Rosanna Gorini (2003). "Al-Haytham the Man of Experience. First Steps in the Science of Vision", ''International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine''. Institute of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology, Rome, Italy.</ref> Alhazen was the first thinker to combine all three fields of optics (theories of philosophical or physical optics, physiological theories of the eye, and [[geometrical optics]]) into an integrated science of optics.<ref name=Lindberg>Lindberg pp.58-86</ref> This was, however, not just a work of synthesis, as he made original contributions to the field. Whereas the Greeks had merely assumed the linear propagation of [[light]], Alhazen proved it with [[empirical]] experiments. His ''[[Book of Optics]]'' has been ranked alongside [[Isaac Newton]]'s ''[[Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica]]'' as one of the most influential books in the [[history of physics]]<ref> H. Salih, M. Al-Amri, M. El Gomati (2005). "The Miracle of Light", ''A World of Science'' '''3''' (3). [[UNESCO]].</ref> for initiating a [[Scientific Revolution|revolution]] in optics<ref>{{citation|last1=Sabra|first1=A. I.|author1-link=A. I. Sabra|last2=Hogendijk|first2=J. P.|title=The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives|pages=85-118|publisher=[[MIT Press]]|isbn=0262194821}}</ref> and [[visual perception]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Hatfield |first=Gary |contribution=Was the Scientific Revolution Really a Revolution in Science? |editor1-last=Ragep |editor1-first=F. J. |editor2-last=Ragep |editor2-first=Sally P. |editor3-last=Livesey |editor3-first=Steven John |year=1996 |title=Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on Pre-modern Science held at the University of Oklahoma |page=500 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=9004091262}}</ref>
Another important medieval Muslim physicist and polymath who contributed towards experimental physics was [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]], who developed the earliest experimental method for [[mechanics]] in the 11th century. Al-Biruni and [[Al-Khazini]] also unified [[statics]] and [[Dynamics (physics)|dynamics]] into the science of mechanics, and combined [[hydrostatics]] with dynamics to create the field of [[hydrodynamics]].<ref>Mariam Rozhanskaya and I. S. Levinova (1996), "Statics", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., ''[[Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science]]'', Vol. 2, pp. 614-642 [642], [[Routledge]], London and New York</ref> The concept of [[inertia]] was theorized by Islamic scholars such as Alhazen and [[Avicenna]] in the 11th century, who also theorized the concept of [[momentum]].<ref name=Sayili>A. Sayili (1987), "Ibn Sīnā and Buridan on the Motion of the Projectile", ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' '''500''' (1), p. 477–482:
{{quote|"Thus he considered impetus as proportional to weight times velocity. In other words, his conception of impetus comes very close to the concept of momentum of Newtonian mechanics."}}</ref> In the 12th century, [[Ibn Bajjah|Avempace]] developed the concept of a [[Reaction (physics)|reaction force]],<ref name=Pines-1964>[[Shlomo Pines]] (1964), "La dynamique d’Ibn Bajja", in ''Mélanges Alexandre Koyré'', I, 442-468 [462, 468], Paris
<br>([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003), "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4): 521-546 [543])</ref> and [[Hibat Allah Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdaadi|Abu’l Barakat]] developed the concept that [[force]] applied continuously produces [[acceleration]].<ref name=Pines-1970>{{cite encyclopedia | last = [[Shlomo Pines]] | title = Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī , Hibat Allah | encyclopedia = [[Dictionary of Scientific Biography]] | volume = 1 | pages = 26-28 | publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons | location = New York | date = 1970 | isbn = 0684101149}}
<br>([[cf.]] Abel B. Franco (October 2003). "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''64''' (4), p. 521-546 [528].)</ref> [[Galileo Galilei]]'s mathematical treatment of [[acceleration]] and his concept of [[inertia]]<ref>Galileo Galilei, ''Two New Sciences'', trans. Stillman Drake, (Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Pr., 1974), pp 217, 225, 296-7.</ref> was influenced by the works of Avicenna,<ref name=Espinoza>Fernando Espinoza (2005). "An analysis of the historical development of ideas about motion and its implications for teaching", ''Physics Education'' '''40''' (2), p. 141.</ref> Avempace and [[Jean Buridan]].<ref>Ernest A. Moody (1951). "Galileo and Avempace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment (I)", ''Journal of the History of Ideas'' '''12''' (2), p. 163-193 (192f.)</ref>
===Other sciences===
{{see also|Islamic psychological thought|Early Muslim sociology}}
Muslim polymaths and scientists made advances in a number of other sciences. Some of the most famous among them include [[Geber]] ([[polymath]], pioneer of [[chemistry]]), [[al-Farabi]] (polymath), [[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi]] or Abulcasis (pioneer in [[surgery]]),<ref>A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M. Moreno-Martinez (2002). "Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its influence on medieval scholastic medicine", ''Revista de neurología'' '''34''' (9), p. 877-892.</ref> [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (polymath, father of [[optics]], pioneer of [[scientific method]], pioneer in [[psychophysics]] and [[experimental psychology]],<ref>Omar Khaleefa (Summer 1999). "Who Is the Founder of Psychophysics and Experimental Psychology?", ''American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences'' '''16''' (2).</ref> and the first experimental [[scientist]]), [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]] (polymath, father of [[Indology]]<ref>Zafarul-Islam Khan, [http://milligazette.com/Archives/15-1-2000/Art5.htm At The Threshhold Of A New Millennium – II], ''The Milli Gazette''.</ref> and [[geodesy]], and the "first [[anthropologist]]"),<ref>Akbar S. Ahmed (1984). "Al-Beruni: The First Anthropologist", ''RAIN'' '''60''', p. 9-10.</ref> [[Avicenna]] (polymath, pioneer of [[medicine]]<ref>Cas Lek Cesk (1980). "The father of medicine, Avicenna, in our science and culture: Abu Ali ibn Sina (980-1037)", ''Becka J.'' '''119''' (1), p. 17-23.</ref> and [[momentum]] concept),<ref>Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Islamic Conception Of Intellectual Life", in Philip P. Wiener (ed.), ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 2, p. 65, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1973-1974.</ref> [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] (polymath), and [[Ibn Khaldun]] (forerunner of [[social sciences]]<ref>Akbar Ahmed (2002). "Ibn Khaldun’s Understanding of Civilizations and the Dilemmas of Islam and the West Today", ''Middle East Journal'' '''56''' (1), p. 25.</ref> such as [[demography]],<ref name=Mowlana>H. Mowlana (2001). "Information in the Arab World", ''Cooperation South Journal'' '''1'''.</ref> [[cultural history]],<ref>Mohamad Abdalla (Summer 2007). "Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after the 11th Century", ''Islam & Science'' '''5''' (1), p. 61-70.</ref> [[historiography]],<ref>Salahuddin Ahmed (1999). ''A Dictionary of Muslim Names''. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1850653569.</ref> the [[philosophy of history]], and [[sociology]]).<ref name=Akhtar>Dr. S. W. Akhtar (1997). "The Islamic Concept of Knowledge", ''Al-Tawhid: A Quarterly Journal of Islamic Thought & Culture'' '''12''' (3).</ref>
==India==
{{main|Science and technology in ancient India}}
===Alchemy and metallurgy===
{{main|History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent}}
By the beginning of the Middle Ages, the [[wootz steel|wootz]], [[crucible steel|crucible]] and [[stainless steel|stainless]] [[steels]] were invented in India. The [[spinning wheel]] used for [[Spinning (textiles)|spinning]] thread or [[yarn]] from fibrous material such as [[wool]] or [[cotton]] was invented in the early Middle Ages. By the end of the Middle Ages, [[iron]] [[rocket]]s were developed in the [[kingdom of Mysore]] in [[South India]].
===Astronomy===
{{main|Indian astronomy}}
{{see also|Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics}}
The mathematician and astronomer [[Aryabhata]] in 499 propounded a [[heliocentrism|heliocentric]] [[solar system]] of [[gravity|gravitation]] where he presented astronomical and mathematical theories in which the Earth was taken to be spinning on its axis and the [[Orbital period|periods]] of the planets were given as [[ellipse|elliptical]] orbits with respect to the sun. He also believed that the moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight and that the orbits of the planets are ellipses. He carried out accurate calculations of astronomical constants based on this system, such as the periods of the planets, the [[circumference]] of the [[earth]], the [[solar eclipse]] and [[lunar eclipse]], the time taken for a single rotation of the Earth on its axis, the length of earth's revolution around the sun, and the longitudes of planets.
In the 7th century, [[Brahmagupta]] briefly described the [[law of gravitation]], and recognized [[gravity]] as a force of attraction.
The ''Siddhanta Shiromani'' was a mathematical astronomy text written by [[Bhaskara]] in the 12th century. The 12 chapters of the first part cover topics such as: mean longitudes of the planets; true longitudes of the planets; the three problems of diurnal rotation; syzygies; lunar eclipses; solar eclipses; latitudes of the planets; risings and settings; the moon's crescent; conjunctions of the planets with each other; conjunctions of the planets with the fixed stars; and the patas of the sun and moon. The second part contains thirteen chapters on the sphere. It covers topics such as: praise of study of the sphere; nature of the sphere; cosmography and geography; planetary mean motion; eccentric epicyclic model of the planets; the armillary sphere; [[spherical trigonometry]]; ellipse calculations; first visibilities of the planets; calculating the lunar crescent; astronomical instruments; the seasons; and problems of astronomical calculations.
===Mathematics===
{{main|Indian mathematics}}
{{see also|Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics}}
[[Aryabhata]] introduced a number of [[trigonometric functions]] (including [[sine]], [[versine]], [[cosine]] and inverse sine), [[trigonometry|trigonometric]] tables, and techniques and [[algorithm]]s of [[algebra]]. [[Arabic]] translations of his texts were available in the [[Caliph|Islamic world]] by the 8th-10th century.
[[Brahmagupta]] lucidly explained the use of [[0 (number)|zero]] as both a [[placeholder]] and a [[decimal digit]], along with the [[Hindu-Arabic numerals]] now used universally throughout the world. Arabic translations of his texts (around 770) introduced this number system to the Islamic world, where it was adapted as [[Arabic numerals]]. [[Islam]]ic scholars carried knowledge of this number system to [[Europe]] by the 10th century and it has now displaced all older number systems throughout the world.
From the 12th century, [[Bhaskara]], [[Madhava of Sangamagrama|Madhava]], and various [[Kerala school]] mathematicians first conceived of [[mathematical analysis]], [[differential calculus]], concepts of [[integral calculus]], [[infinite series]], [[power series]], [[Taylor series]], [[trigonometric series]], [[floating point]] numbers, and many other concepts foundational to the overall development of [[calculus]] and analysis.
===Medicine===
{{main|Ayurveda}}
Traditional Indian medicine, known as [[Ayurveda]], was mainly formulated in ancient times, but there were a number of additions made during the Middle Ages. Alongside the ancient physicians [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]], the medieval physician [[Vagbhata (Ayurveda)|Vagbhata]], who lived in the 7th century, is considered one of the three classic writers of Ayurveda. In the 8th century, [[Madhav]] wrote the ''Nidāna'', a 79-chapter book which lists diseases along with their causes, symptoms, and complications. He also included a special chapter on [[smallpox]] (''masūrikā'') and described the method of [[inoculation]] to protect against smallpox.<ref>Dick, Michael S. (1998). [http://www.ayurveda.com/online%20resource/ancient_writings.htm The Ancient Ayurvedic Writings]. Retrieved May 19, 2005.</ref>
===Physics===
Prior to the Middle Ages, Indian philosophers in [[History of India|ancient India]] developed [[atomic theory|atomic theories]], which included formulating ideas about the [[atom]] in a systematic manner and propounding ideas about the atomic constitution of the material world. The [[principle of relativity]] was also available in an early embryonic form in the Indian philosophical concept of "''sapekshavad''". The literal translation of this [[Sanskrit]] word is "''theory of relativity''" (not to be confused with Einstein's [[theory of relativity]]). These concepts were further developed during the Middle Ages.
==China==
{{main|History of science and technology in China}} {{see also|Technology of the Song Dynasty|List of Chinese inventions}}
===Theory and hypothesis===
[[Image:Sea island survey.jpg|thumb|right|180px|A 1726 illustration of ''[[The Sea Island Mathematical Manual]]'', written by [[Liu Hui]] in the 3rd century.]]
As Toby E. Huff notes, pre-modern Chinese science developed precariously without solid [[scientific theory]], and lacked consistent systemic treatment in comparison to contemporaneous European works such as the ''Concordance and Discordant Canons'' by [[Gratian (jurist)|Gratian]] of [[Bologna]] (fl. 12th century).<ref name="huff 303">Toby E. Huff, ''The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0521529948) pp 303. </ref> This drawback to Chinese science was lamented even by the mathematician [[Yang Hui]] (1238–1298), who criticized earlier mathematicians such as [[Li Chunfeng]] (602–670) who were content with using methods without working out their theoretical origins or principle, stating:
<blockquote>The men of old changed the name of their methods from problem to problem, so that as no specific explanation was given, there is no way of telling their theoretical origin or basis.<ref name="needham volume 3 104">Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 104.</ref></blockquote>
Despite this, Chinese thinkers of the Middle Ages proposed some hypotheses which are in accordance with modern principles of science. Yang Hui provided theoretical proof for the proposition that the complements of the [[parallelogram]]s which are about the diameter of any given parallelogram are equal to one another.<ref name="needham volume 3 104"/> Sun Sikong (1015–1076) proposed the idea that [[rainbow]]s were the result of the contact between sunlight and moisture in the air, while [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) expanded upon this with description of [[atmospheric refraction]].<ref name="sivin 24">Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, pp. 24.</ref><ref name="kim 171">Yung Sik Kim, ''The Natural Philosophy of Chu Hsi (1130-1200)'' (DIANE Publishing, 2002, ISBN 087169235X), pp. 171.</ref><ref name="dong 72">Paul Dong, ''China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic'' (San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc., 2000, ISBN 0835126765), pp. 72.</ref> Shen believed that rays of sunlight refracted before reaching the surface of the earth, hence the appearance of the observed sun from earth did not match its exact location.<ref name="dong 72"/> Coinciding with the astronomical work of his colleague [[Wei Pu]], Shen and Wei realized that the old calculation technique for the mean sun was inaccurate compared to the apparent sun, since the latter was ahead of it in the accelerated phase of motion, and [[Retrograde and direct motion|behind it in the retarded phase]].<ref>Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, pp. 16–19.</ref> Shen supported and expanded upon beliefs earlier proposed by [[Han Dynasty]] (202 BCE–202 CE) scholars such as [[Jing Fang]] (78–37 BCE) and [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139 CE) that [[lunar eclipse]] occurs when the earth obstructs the sunlight traveling towards the moon, a [[solar eclipse]] is the moon's obstruction of sunlight reaching earth, the moon is spherical like a ball and not flat like a disc, and moonlight is merely sunlight reflected from the moon's surface.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 227 & 414–416</ref> Shen also explained that the observance of a full moon occurred when the sun's light was slanting at a certain degree and that cresent [[Lunar phase|phases of the moon]] proved that the moon was spherical, using a metaphor of observing different angles of a silver ball with white powder thrown onto one side.<ref>"Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 415–416.</ref><ref>Paul Dong, ''China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic'' (San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc., 2000, ISBN 0835126765), pp. 71–72.</ref> It should be noted that, although the Chinese accepted the idea of spherical-shaped heavenly bodies, the concept of a [[spherical earth]] (as opposed to a [[flat earth]]) was not accepted in Chinese thought until the works of Italian Jesuit [[Matteo Ricci]] (1552–1610) and Chinese astronomer [[Xu Guangqi]] (1562–1633) in the early 17th century.<ref>Dainian Fan and Robert Sonné Cohen, ''Chinese Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology'' (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996, ISBN 0-7923-3463-9), pp. 431–432.</ref>
===Pharmacology===
{{main|Traditional Chinese medicine}}
{{see also|Classical Chinese Medicine}}
There were noted advances in [[traditional Chinese medicine]] during the Middle Ages. [[Emperor Gaozong of Tang|Emperor Gaozong]] (r. 649–683) of the [[Tang Dynasty]] (618–907) commissioned the scholarly compilation of a ''[[materia medica]]'' in 657 that documented 833 medicinal substances taken from stones, minerals, metals, plants, herbs, animals, vegetables, fruits, and cereal crops.<ref>Charles Benn, ''China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty''. Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-517665-0), pp. 235.</ref> In his ''Bencao Tujing'' ('Illustrated Pharmacopoeia'), the scholar-official [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) not only systematically categorized [[Botany|herbs]] and [[Mineralogy|minerals]] according to their pharmaceutical uses, but he also took an interest in [[zoology]].<ref name="wu 5">Wu Jing-nuan, ''An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica''. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 5.</ref><ref name="needham volume 3 648 649">Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 648–649.</ref><ref name="needham volume 6 part 1 174 175">Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1, Botany''. (Taipei: Caves Books Ltd., 1986), pp. 174–175.</ref><ref name="schafer">Schafer, Edward H. "Orpiment and Realgar in Chinese Technology and Tradition," ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' (Volume 75, Number 2, 1955): 73–89.</ref> For example, Su made systematic descriptions of animal species and the environmental regions they could be found, such as the freshwater [[crab]] ''Eriocher sinensis'' found in the [[Huai River]] running through [[Anhui]], in waterways near [[Kaifeng|the capital city]], as well as reservoirs and marshes of [[Hebei]].<ref>West, Stephen H. "Cilia, Scale and Bristle: The Consumption of Fish and Shellfish in The Eastern Capital of The Northern Song," ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' (Volume 47, Number 2, 1987): 595–634.</ref>
===Horology and clockworks===
Although the ''Bencao Tujing'' was an important pharmaceutical work of the age, Su Song is perhaps better known for his work in [[horology]]. His book ''Xinyi Xiangfayao'' (新儀象法要; lit. 'Essentials of a New Method for Mechanizing the Rotation of an Armillary Sphere and a Celestial Globe') documented the intricate mechanics of his [[Astronomical clock|astronomical clock tower]] in [[Kaifeng]]. This included the use of an [[Escapement|escapement mechanism]] and world's first known [[chain drive]] to power the rotating [[armillary sphere]] crowning the top as well as the 133 clock jack figurines positioned on a rotating wheel that [[Striking clock|sounded the hours]] by banging drums, clashing gongs, striking bells, and holding plaques with special announcements appearing from open-and-close shutter windows.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 111 165 445 448">Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2: Mechanical Engineering'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. 1986) pp. 111 & 165 & 445–448.</ref><ref>Liu, Heping. ""The Water Mill" and Northern Song Imperial Patronage of Art, Commerce, and Science," The Art Bulletin (Volume 84, Number 4, 2002): 566–595.</ref><ref>Tony Fry, ''The Architectural Theory Review: Archineering in Chinatime'' (Sydney: University of Sydney, 2001), pp. 10–11.</ref><ref>Derk Bodde, ''Chinese Thought, Society, and Science'' (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991), pp. 140.</ref> While it had been Zhang Heng who applied the first [[motive power]] to the armillary sphere via [[hydraulics]] in 125 CE,<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2: Mechanical Engineering'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. 1986), pp. 30.</ref><ref>W. Scott Morton and Charlton M. Lewis, China: Its History and Culture. (New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 2005), pp. 70.</ref> it was [[Yi Xing]] (683–727) in 725 CE who first applied an escapement mechanism to a water-powered celestial globe and stiking clock.<ref name>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2: Mechanical Engineering'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. 1986) pp. 470–475.</ref> The early Song Dynasty horologist [[Zhang Sixun]] (fl. late 10th century) employed [[Mercury (element)|liquid mercury]] in his astronomical clock because there were complaints that water would freeze too easily in the clepsydra tanks during winter.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2: Mechanical Engineering'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd. 1986), pp. 469–471.</ref>
===Archaeology===
During the early half of the [[Song Dynasty]] (960–1279), the study of [[archaeology]] developed out of the [[antiquarian]] interests of the [[Gentry (China)|educated gentry]] and their desire to revive the use of ancient vessels in state rituals and ceremonies.<ref name="fraser haber 227">Julius Thomas Fraser and Francis C. Haber, ''Time, Science, and Society in China and the West'' (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, ISBN 0-87023-495-1, 1986), pp. 227.</ref> This and the belief that ancient vessels were products of 'sages' and not common people was criticized by Shen Kuo, who took an [[Interdisciplinarity|interdisciplinary]] approach to archaeology, incorporating his archaeological findings into studies on metallurgy, optics, astronomy, geometry, and ancient [[Bar (music)|music measures]].<ref name="fraser haber 227"/> His contemporary [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) compiled an analytical catalogue of ancient rubbings on stone and bronze, which Patricia B. Ebrey says pioneered ideas in early [[epigraphy]] and archaeology.<ref>Patricia B. Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-66991-X), pp. 148.</ref> In accordance with the beliefs of the later [[Leopold von Ranke]] (1795–1886), some Song gentry—such as Zhao Mingcheng (1081–1129)—supported the primacy of contemporaneous archaeological finds of ancient inscriptions over historical works written after the fact, which they contested to be unreliable in regards to the former evidence.<ref name="rudolph">Rudolph, R.C. "Preliminary Notes on Sung Archaeology," ''The Journal of Asian Studies'' (Volume 22, Number 2, 1963): 169–177.</ref> Hong Mai (1123–1202) used ancient Han Dynasty era vessels to debunk what he found to be fallacious descriptions of Han vessels in the ''Bogutu'' archaeological catalogue compiled during the latter half of [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Huizong's reign]] (1100–1125).<ref name="rudolph"/>
===Geology and climatology===
In addition to his studies in meteorology, astronomy, and archaeology mentioned above, Shen Kuo also made hypotheses in regards to [[geology]] and [[climatology]] in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' of 1088, specifically his claims regarding [[geomorphology]] and [[climate change]]. Shen believed that land was reshaped over time due to perpetual [[erosion]], uplift, and deposition of [[silt]], and cited his observance of horizontal strata of fossils embedded in a [[Taihang Mountains|cliffside at Taihang]] as evidence that the area was once the location of an ancient seashore that had shifted hundreds of miles east over an enormous span of time.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 603–604, 618.</ref><ref>Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, pp. 23.</ref><ref name="chan clancey loy">Alan Kam-leung Chan, Gregory K. Clancey, and Hui-Chieh Loy, ''Historical Perspectives on East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine'' (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2002, ISBN 9971692597) pp. 15.</ref> Shen also wrote that since petrified bamboos were found underground in a dry northern climate zone where they had never been known to grow, climates naturally shifted geographically over time.<ref name="chan clancey loy"><ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 618.</ref>
===Magnetism, mathematics, and metallurgy===
{{main|Chinese mathematics|History of metallurgy in China}}
{{see also|Chinese alchemy}}
Shen Kuo's written work of 1088 also contains the first written description of the magnetic needle [[compass]], the first description in China of experiments with [[camera obscura]], the invention of [[movable type]] printing by the artisan [[Bi Sheng]] (990–1051), a method of repeated forging of [[cast iron]] under a [[cold blast]] similar to the modern [[Bessemer process]], and the mathematical basis for [[spherical trigonometry]] that would later be mastered by the astronomer and engineer [[Guo Shoujing]] (1231–1316).<ref>Sal Restivo, ''Mathematics in Society and History: Sociological Inquiries'' (Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992, ISBN 1402000391), pp 32.</ref><ref>Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, pp. 21, 27, & 34.</ref><ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 1, Physics'' (Taipei: Caves Books Ltd., 1986), pp. 98 & 252.</ref><ref name="hsu">Hsu, Mei-ling. "Chinese Marine Cartography: Sea Charts of Pre-Modern China," ''Imago Mundi'' (Volume 40, 1988): 96–112.</ref><ref>Jacques Gernet, ''A History of Chinese Civilization'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 0521497817), pp. 335.</ref><ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 1: Paper and Printing'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd, 1986), pp 201.</ref><ref>Hartwell, Robert. "Markets, Technology, and the Structure of Enterprise in the Development of the Eleventh-Century Chinese Iron and Steel Industry," The Journal of Economic History (Volume 26, Number 1, 1966): 29–58.</ref> While using a sighting tube of improved width to correct the position of the [[polestar]] (which had shifted over the centuries), Shen discovered the concept of [[true north]] and [[magnetic declination]] towards the [[North Magnetic Pole]], a concept which would aid navigators in the years to come.<ref>Nathan Sivin, ''Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.'' (Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing, 1995), Chapter III, pp. 22.</ref><ref>Peter Mohn, ''Magnetism in the Solid State: An Introduction'' (New York: Springer-Verlag Inc., 2003, ISBN 3540431837), pp. 1.</ref>
[[Qin Jiushao]] (c. 1202–1261) was the first to introduce the [[0 (number)|zero symbol]] into Chinese mathematics.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 43.</ref> Before this innovation, blank spaces were used instead of zeros in the system of [[counting rods]].<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 62–63.</ref> [[Pascal's triangle]] was first illustrated in China by Yang Hui in his book ''Xiangjie Jiuzhang Suanfa'' (详解九章算法), although it was described earlier around 1100 by [[Jia Xian]].<ref>Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 134–137.</ref> Although the ''Introduction to Computational Studies'' (算学启蒙) written by [[Zhu Shijie]] (fl. 13th century) in 1299 contained nothing new in Chinese [[algebra]], it had a great impact on the development of [[Japanese mathematics]].<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986) pp. 46.</ref>
In addition to the method similar to the Bessemer process mentioned above, there were other notable advancements in Chinese metallurgy during the Middle Ages. During the 11th century, the growth of the iron industry caused vast [[deforestation]] due to the use of [[charcoal]] in the smelting process.<ref name="wagner">Wagner, Donald B. "The Administration of the Iron Industry in Eleventh-Century China," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient (Volume 44 2001): 175-197.</ref><ref name="ebrey walthall palais 158">Patricia B. Ebrey, Anne Walthall, and James B. Palais, ''East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History'' (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006, ISBN 0-618-13384-4), pp. 158.</ref> To remedy the problem of deforestation, the Song Chinese discovered how to produce [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] from [[bituminous coal]] as a substitute for charcoal.<ref name="wagner"/><ref name="ebrey walthall palais 158"/> Although hydraulic-powered [[bellows]] for heating the [[blast furnace]] had been written of since [[Du Shi]]'s (d. 38) invention of the 1st century CE, the first known drawn and printed illustration of it in operation is found in a book written in 1313 by [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] (fl. 1290–1333).<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986), pp. 376.</ref>
===Daoist influence===
In their pursuit for an [[elixir of life]] and desire to create gold from various mixtures of elements, [[Daoism|Daoist]] priests became heavily associated with [[alchemy]].<ref name="fairbank 82">John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, ''China: A New History'' (Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2nd ed., 2006, ISBN 0-674-01828-1), pp. 82.</ref> Joseph Needham labeled their pursuits as proto-scientific rather than merely [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="fairbank 82"/> In their futile experiments, they did manage to discover new metal [[alloy]]s, [[porcelain]] types, and [[dye]]s.<ref name="fairbank 82"/> In a 9th century Arab work ''Kitāb al-Khawāss al Kabīr'', there are numerous products listed that were native to China, including waterproof and dust-repelling cream or varnish for clothes and weapons, a [[Lacquerware|Chinese lacquer]], varnish, or cream that protected leather items, a completely fire-proof cement for class and porcelain, recipes for [[Indian ink|Chinese and Indian ink]], a waterproof cream for the silk garments of underwater divers, and a cream specifically used for polishing mirrors.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 4, Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Apparatus, Theories and Gifts'' (Taipei: Caves Books Ltd., 1986), pp. 452.</ref>
===Gunpowder warfare===
The significant change that distinguished [[Medieval warfare]] to [[early Modern warfare]] was the use of [[gunpowder]] weaponry in battle. [[:Image:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|A 10th century silken banner]] from [[Dunhuang]] portrays the first artistic depiction of a [[fire lance]], a prototype of the gun.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986), pp. 220–262.</ref> The ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' military manuscript of 1044 listed the first known written formulas for gunpowder, meant for light-weight bombs lobbed from catapults or thrown down from defenders behind city walls.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986), pp. 70–73 & 117–124.</ref> By the 13th century, the iron-cased bomb shell, [[hand cannon]], [[land mine]], and [[rocket]] were developed.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986), pp. 173–174, 192, 290, & 477.</ref><ref>Alfred W. Crosby, ''Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0521791588), pp. 100–103.</ref> As evidenced by the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' of [[Jiao Yu]] and [[Liu Ji]], by the 14th century the Chinese had developed the heavy [[cannon]], hollow and gunpowder-packed [[round shot|exploding cannonballs]], the [[multistage rocket|two-stage rocket]] with a [[booster rocket]], the [[naval mine]] and [[wheellock]] mechanism to ignite trains of fuses.<ref>Joseph Needham, ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology; the Gunpowder Epic'' (Taipei: Caves Books, Ltd., 1986), pp. 203–205, 264, 508.</ref><ref>John Norris, ''Early Gunpowder Artillery: 1300–1600'' (Marlborough: The Crowood Press, Ltd., 2003), pp. 11.</ref>
==Byzantine world==
{{main|Byzantine science}}
[[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] science played an important role in the transmission of [[Classical antiquity|classical knowledge]] to the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic world]] and to [[Renaissance Italy]], and also in the transmission of medieval [[Islamic science|Arabic knowledge]] to Renaissance Italy.<ref name=Saliba>{{cite web|author=[[George Saliba]]|title=Islamic Science and the Making of Renaissance Europe|date=April 27, 2006|url=http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3883|accessdate=2008-03-01}}</ref> Its rich historiographical tradition preserved ancient knowledge upon which splendid [[art]], [[architecture]], [[literature]] and technological achievements were built.
===Mathematics===
Byzantine scientists preserved and continued the legacy of the great [[Ancient Greek mathematicians]] and put mathematics in practice. In early [[Byzantium]] (5th to 7th century) the architects and mathematicians [[Isidore of Miletus]] and [[Anthemius of Tralles]] used complex mathematical formulas to construct the great “[[Agia Sophia]]” temple, a magnificent technological breakthrough for its time and for centuries afterwards due to its striking geometry, bold design and height. In late Byzantium (9th to 12th century) mathematicians like [[Michael Psellos]] considered mathematics as a way to interpret the world.
===Islamic interactions===
The Byzantine Empire initially provided the [[Islamic Golden Age|medieval Islamic world]] with [[Ancient Greek]] texts on [[Greek astronomy|astronomy]] and [[Greek mathematics|mathematics]] for translation into [[Arabic language|Arabic]] as the Empire was the leading center of scientific scholarship in the region in the [[early Middle Ages]]. Later as the [[Muslim world]] became the center of scientific knowledge, Byzantine scientists such as [[Gregory Choniades]] translated Arabic texts on [[Islamic astronomy]], [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]] and [[Islamic science|science]] into [[Medieval Greek]], including the works of [[Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi]], [[Ibn Yunus]], [[al-Khazini]] (a Muslim scientist of Byzantine Greek descent),<ref name=Pingree>[[David Pingree]] (1964), "Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan Astronomy", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' '''18''': 135-60</ref> [[Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī]]<ref>{{citation|title=Reviews: ''The Astronomical Works of Gregory Chioniades, Volume I: The Zij al- Ala'i'' by Gregory Chioniades, David Pingree; ''An Eleventh-Century Manual of Arabo-Byzantine Astronomy'' by Alexander Jones|first=David A.|last=King|journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]]|volume=82|issue=1|date=March 1991|pages=116-8}}</ref> and [[Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī]] among others. There were also some Byzantine scientists who used Arabic transliterations to describe certain scientific concepts instead of the equivalent Ancient Greek terms (such as the use of the Arabic ''talei'' instead of the Ancient Greek ''[[Horoscope|hososcopus]]''). Byzantine science thus played an important role in not only transmitting ancient Greek knowledge to Western Europe and the Islamic world, but in also transmitting Arabic knowledge to Western Europe, such as the transmission of the [[Tusi-couple]], which later appeared in the work of [[Nicolaus Copernicus]].<ref name=Saliba>{{cite web|author=[[George Saliba]]|title=Islamic Science and the Making of Renaissance Europe|date=April 27, 2006|url=http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3883|accessdate=2008-03-01}}</ref> Byzantine scientists also became acquainted with [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid]] and [[Indian astronomy]] through citations in some Arabic works.<ref name=Pingree/>
==See also==
*[[History of science]]
==Notes==
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==References==
<div class="references-small">
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*Grant, E. ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts''. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr., 1996. ISBN 0-521-56762-9
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*{{cite book |last=[[David C. Lindberg|Lindberg]] |first=David C. |title=The Beginnings of Western Science |year= 1992 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |id=ISBN 0-226-48230-8 }}
*[[Lindberg, David C.]], ed. ''Science in the Middle Ages''. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1976. ISBN 0-226-48233-2
*Parkinson, Claire. ''Breakthroughs. A chronology of great achievements in science and mathematics.'' Mansell, 1985. ISBN 0-7201-1800-X
*Shank, M. H., ed. ''The Scientific Enterprise in Antiquity and the Middle Ages''. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2000. ISBN 0-226-74951-7
*[[James Joseph Walsh|Walsh, James Joseph]]. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC22760194&id=B-cQAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage&dq=%22popes+and+science%22 ''The Popes and Science; the History of the Papal Relations to Science During the Middle Ages and Down to Our Own Time''], Fordam University Press, 1908 — [[Google Books]] Reprinted 2003, Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-3646-9 Reviews: [http://books.google.com/books?vid=02tZKPD5CJrIa31EgK&id=G57Y1rlQVP0C&pg=PT2&lpg=PT2&dq=%22the+popes+and+science%22 The Popes and Science], [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1407075 NIH].
*Restivo, Sal P.: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1uHrupcekRsC&pg=PA531 Science, Technology, and Society: An Encyclopedia]'', Oxford University Press, 2005, 728 pages, ISBN 0195141938.
*Huff, Toby E.: ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=DLxRGjr1gYQC&pg=PA245 The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West]'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, 446 pages, ISBN 0521529948.
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==External links==
*[http://members.aol.com/McNelis/medsci_index.html Medieval Science Page] (a comprehensive set of links to Internet resources of medieval science)
*[http://www.bede.org.uk/university.htm Medieval Science, the Church and Universities] by James Hannam
*[http://www.bl.uk/learning/cult/bodies/astrology/astrologyhome.html Medieval astrology] - a learning resource from the British Library
{{Middle Ages wide 2}}
[[Category:History of science]]
[[Category:Middle Ages]]
{{Link FA|pt}}
[[cs:Vzdělanost ve středověku]]
[[es:Ciencia medieval]]
[[fr:Science du Moyen Âge]]
[[gl:Ciencia medieval]]
[[nl:Wetenschap in de middeleeuwen]]
[[pt:Ciência medieval]]