History of science in the Middle Ages

Categories: History of science

The Middle Ages: Western World

See Also: Medieval medicine, Medieval philosophy

With the loss of the Western Roman Empire, much of Europe lost contact with the knowledge of the past. Because of this regression in knowledge, the long period that followed is also known as the Dark Ages. While the Byzantine Empire still held learning centers such as Alexandria and Constantinople, Western Europe's knowledge was concentrated in monasteries until the development of medieval universities in the 12th and 13th centuries. Initially these universities were organized to only teach theology, but people like Roger Bacon and Robert Grosseteste encouraged teaching of the sciences. Scientific teaching of the period was based upon copies of ancient texts that remained in Western Europe, and is known as the philosophic school of scholasticism. The rise of Christianity saw a strange paradox: classical Greek philosophy (along with Greek and Roman art, literature and religious iconography) was suppressed while at the same time it was safeguarded.

Renaissance Period

See Also: Renaissance

The Renaissance was instigated by rediscovery of the works of ancient philosophers and an intellectual revitalization of Europe. This provided a solid foundation for all future scientific work. Contact with the Islamic world in Sicily and Spain allowed Europeans access to preserved copies of Greek and Roman works along with the works of Islamic philosophers. Translations and commentaries of Aristotle by the Islamic scholar Averroës were influential in much of Europe. The published works of Marco Polo along with the Crusades helped spark interest in geography.

Moreover, some scholars, such as Jean Buridan, started to question the received widsom of Aristotle's mechanics. Buridan developed the theory of impetus which was the first step towards the modern concept of inertia.

Most importantly, the development of the printing press in the 1450s allowed for new ideas to be rapidly copied to multiple people.

The Scientific Revolution

Main article: Scientific Revolution

The birth of modern science in Europe began in a period of great upheaval. Events such as the Protestant Reformation, the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus, the Fall of Constantinople, and the Spanish Inquisition caused both social and political changes to occur throughout Europe. These changes and new discoveries created an environment willing to question scientific doctrine in much the same way that Martin Luther and John Calvin questioned religious doctrine.

The works of Ptolemy (astronomy), Galen (medicine), and Aristotle (physics) were also found to not always match everyday observations. An example of this is that an arrow flying through the air after leaving a bow contradicts Aristotle's assertion that the natural state of all objects is to be at rest. Work by Vesalius on human cadavers also found problems with the Galenian view of anatomy.

The willingness to question previously held truths and search for new answers resulted in a period of major scientific advancements, now known as the Scientific Revolution. Its origins can be found in the European rediscovery of Aristotle in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This period culminated with the publication of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton (dates disputed).

The Scientific Revolution is held by most historians to have begun in 1543, when De Revolutionibus, written about twelve years earlier by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, was first printed. The thesis of this book was that the Earth moved around the Sun. Other significant scientific advances were made during this time by Galileo Galilei, Christiaan Huygens, Johannes Kepler, and Blaise Pascal. In philosophy, major contributions were made by Francis Bacon, Sir Thomas Browne, René Descartes, and Thomas Hobbes, influencing the thinking of the time. Development of the basics of scientific method also occurred during this time. The new way of thinking emphasized experimentation and reason over traditional considerations.

The Middle Ages: Eastern World

Islamic science

See main article: Islamic science

In the Middle East, Greek philosophy was able to find some short-lived support by the newly created Arab Caliphate (Empire). With the spread of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries, a period of Islamic scholarship lasted until the 14th century. This scholarship was aided by several factors. The use of a single language, Arabic, allowed communication without need of a translator. Access to Greek and Roman texts from the Byzantine Empire along with Indian sources of learning provided Islamic scholars a knowledge base to build upon. In addition, there was the Hajj. This annual pilgrimage to Mecca facilitated scholarly collaboration by bringing together people and new ideas from all over the Islamic world.

In Islamic versions of early scientific method, ethics played an important role. During this period the concepts of citation and peer review were developed. Islamic scholars used previous work in medicine, astronomy and mathematics as bedrock to develop new fields like alchemy. In mathematics, the Islamic scholar Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi gave his name to what we now call an algorithm, and the word algebra is derived from al-jabr, the beginning of the name of one of his publications in which he developed a system of solving quadratic equations. Researchers like Al-Batani (850-929) contributed to the fields of astronomy and mathematics and Al-Razi to chemistry. Examples of fruits of these contributions can be seen in Damascus steel (wootz steel), and the Baghdad Battery. Arab alchemy proved to be an inspiration to Roger Bacon, and later to Isaac Newton. Also in astronomy, Al-Batani improved the measurements of Hipparchus, preserved in the translation of the Greek Hè Megalè Syntaxis (the great treatise) translated as Almagest. About 900, Al-Batani 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).

Developments in China

Main article: Science and technology in China.

The solid-fuel rocket was invented in China about 1150, about 200 years after the invention of gunpowder (which was its main fuel) and 500 years after the invention of the match. At the same time that the age of exploration was occurring in the West, the Chinese emperors of the Ming Dynasty also sent ships, some reaching Africa. But the enterprises were not further funded, halting further exploration and development. When Magellan's ships reached Brunei in 1521, they found a wealthy city that had been fortified by Chinese engineers, protected by a breakwater. Antonio Pigafetta noted that much of the technology of Brunei was equal to Western technology of the time. Also, there were more cannons in Brunei than on Magellan's ships, and the Chinese merchants to the Brunei court had sold them spectacles and porcelain, which were rarities in Europe. The scientific base for these technological developments appears to be quite thin, however. For example, the concept of force was not clearly formulated in Chinese texts of the period.