Scientific method

=== The scientific revolution ===

In the [[scientific revolution]] of the 16th and 17th centuries, the not yet named method first gained significant traction. Some of the most important developments were the furthering of [[empiricism]] by [[Francis Bacon]] and [[Robert Hooke]],<ref>{{Cite book| last = Inwood | first = Stephen | title = The Forgotten Genius : The biography of Robert Hooke (1635–1703) | publisher = MacAdam/Cage Pub. |location=San Francisco | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-1-931561-56-3 |oclc=53006741 |pages=112–116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The posthumous works of Robert Hooke, M.D. S.R.S. Geom. Prof. Gresh. etc. |year=1705 |first=Robert |last=Hooke |editor-first=Richard |editor-last=Waller  |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/b30454621_0001/page/3/mode/1up  |chapter=First general: The present state of natural philosophy and wherein it is deficient}}</ref> the [[rationalist]] approach described by [[René Descartes]] and [[inductivism]], brought to particular prominence by and around [[Isaac Newton]].

From the 16th century onwards, experiments were advocated by [[Francis Bacon]], and performed by [[Giambattista della Porta]],<ref>{{cite conference |conference=The optics of Giovan Battista della Porta (1535–1615): A Reassessment Workshop at Technical University of Berlin, 24–25 October 2014 |url=http://www.wissensgeschichte-berlin.de/sites/default/files/2014_10_24_DellaPortaWS_Program_Abstracts.pdf |title=various papers |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527202632/http://www.wissensgeschichte-berlin.de/sites/default/files/2014_10_24_DellaPortaWS_Program_Abstracts.pdf |archive-date=2018-05-27}}</ref> [[Johannes Kepler]],{{refn|1=Kepler, Johannes (1604) ''Ad Vitellionem paralipomena, quibus astronomiae pars opticae traditur'' (Supplements to Witelo, in which the optical part of astronomy is treated){{efn|The full title translation is from {{harvp|Voelkel|2001|p=60}}.}} as cited in {{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=A. Mark|title=What Is the History of Medieval Optics Really about?|journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|date=June 2004 |volume=148 |issue=2|pages=180–194|jstor=1558283 |pmid=15338543}}
}}{{efn|name= Kepler1604| Kepler was driven to this experiment after observing the partial solar eclipse at Graz, July 10, 1600. He used Tycho Brahe's method of observation, which was to project the image of the Sun on a piece of paper through a pinhole aperture, instead of looking directly at the Sun. He disagreed with Brahe's conclusion that total eclipses of the Sun were impossible because there were historical accounts of total eclipses. Instead, he deduced that the size of the aperture controls the sharpness of the projected image (the larger the aperture, the more accurate the image&nbsp;– this fact is now fundamental for optical system design). {{harvp|Voelkel|2001|p=61}}, notes that Kepler's 1604 experiments produced the first correct account of vision and the eye, because he realized he could not accurately write about astronomical observation by ignoring the eye. {{harvp|Smith|2004|p=192}} recounts how Kepler used Giambattista della Porta's water-filled glass spheres to model the eye, and using an aperture to represent the entrance pupil of the eye, showed that the entire scene at the entrance pupil-focused on a single point of the rear of the glass sphere (representing the retina of the eye). This completed Kepler's investigation of the optical train, as it satisfied his application to astronomy.}} and [[Galileo Galilei]].{{efn-lg|name= empirical|...an experimental approach was advocated by Galileo in 1638 with the publication of ''[[Two New Sciences]]''.{{sfnp|Galileo Galilei|1638}}}} There was particular development aided by theoretical works by a skeptic [[Francisco Sanches]],{{sfnp|Sanches|1988}}  by idealists as well as empiricists [[John Locke]], [[George Berkeley]], and [[David Hume]].{{efn-lg|name= particDev |1= Sanches and Locke were both physicians. By his training in Rome and France, Sanches sought a method of science beyond that of the Scholastic Aristotelian school. Botanical gardens were added to the universities in Sanches' time to aid medical training before the 1600s. ''See Locke [https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Locke#An_Essay_Concerning_Human_Understanding_(1689) (1689) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding]'' Berkeley served as foil to the materialist System of the World of Newton; Berkeley emphasizes that scientist should seek 'reduction to regularity'.<ref name= idealism >Lisa Downing, ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' [https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/#3.2.3 (Fall 2021) George Berkeley, 3.2.3 Scientific explanation]</ref> Atherton (ed.) 1999 selects Locke, Berkeley, and Hume as part of the empiricist school.<ref>Margaret Atherton (ed.) 1999 [https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/iifXAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwik0tS18qOFAxXCj4kEHYLuD28Qre8FegQICxAD The Empiricists]</ref> }}