Science

=== Middle Ages ===
{{Main|History of science#Middle Ages}}
[[File:ViennaDioscoridesEndpaperPeacock.jpg|thumb|The first page of [[Vienna Dioscurides]] depicts a [[peacock]], made in the 6th century|alt=Picture of a peacock on very old paper]]
Due to the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|collapse of the Western Roman Empire]], the 5th century saw an intellectual decline and knowledge of [[History of science in classical antiquity|Greek conceptions of the world]] deteriorated in Western Europe.<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|p=194}} During the period, Latin encyclopedists such as [[Isidore of Seville]] preserved the majority of general ancient knowledge.<ref name="Grant1996">{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YyvmEyX6rZgC |title=The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional and Intellectual Contexts |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-521-56762-6 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of Science |pages=7–17 |access-date=November 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190821163234/https://books.google.com/books?id=YyvmEyX6rZgC |archive-date=August 21, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> In contrast, because the [[Byzantine Empire]] resisted attacks from invaders, they were able to preserve and improve prior learning.<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|p=159}} [[John Philoponus]], a Byzantine scholar in the 500s, started to question Aristotle's teaching of physics, introducing the [[theory of impetus]].<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|pp=307, 311, 363, 402}} His criticism served as an inspiration to medieval scholars and Galileo Galilei, who extensively cited his works ten centuries later.<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|pp=307–308}}<ref>{{cite book|url= https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/philoponus/|title= The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|first= Christian|last= Wildberg|editor-first= Edward N.|editor-last= Zalta|date= May 1, 2018|publisher= Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|via= Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date= May 1, 2018|archive-date= August 22, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190822110331/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/philoponus/|url-status= live}}</ref>

During [[late antiquity]] and the [[early Middle Ages]], natural phenomena were mainly examined via the Aristotelian approach. The approach includes Aristotle's [[four causes]]: material, formal, moving, and final cause.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Aristotle on Causality |last=Falcon |first=Andrea |editor-last=Zalta |date=2019 |editor-first=Edward |title=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |edition=Spring 2019 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCau |access-date=October 3, 2020 |archive-date=October 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009032459/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/aristotle-causality/#FouCau |url-status=live }}</ref> Many Greek classical texts were preserved by the [[Byzantine empire]] and [[Arabic]] translations were done by groups such as the [[Nestorian schism|Nestorians]] and the [[Monophysitism|Monophysites]]. Under the [[Caliphate]], these Arabic translations were later improved and developed by Arabic scientists.<ref name="Grant2007b">{{cite book |last=Grant |first=Edward |url=https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran |title=A History of Natural Philosophy: From the Ancient World to the Nineteenth Century |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-68957-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historynaturalph00gran/page/n77 62]–67 |chapter=Islam and the eastward shift of Aristotelian natural philosophy |url-access=limited}}</ref> By the 6th and 7th centuries, the neighboring [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid Empire]] established the medical [[Academy of Gondishapur|Academy of Gondeshapur]], which is considered by Greek, Syriac, and Persian physicians as the most important medical center of the ancient world.<ref>{{Cite book|title= The Cambridge history of Iran|date= 1968–1991|publisher= University Press|last= Fisher|first= W.B. (William Bayne)|isbn= 978-0-521-20093-6|location= Cambridge|oclc= 745412}}</ref>

The [[House of Wisdom]] was established in [[Abbasid]]-era [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Bayt-al-Hikmah|title= Bayt al-Hikmah|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date= November 3, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161104043313/https://www.britannica.com/place/Bayt-al-Hikmah|archive-date= November 4, 2016}}</ref> where the Islamic study of [[Aristotelianism#Islamic world|Aristotelianism]] flourished<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last=Hossein Nasr |editor-first=Seyyed |title=History of Islamic Philosophy |title-link=History of Islamic Philosophy |editor-last2=Leaman |editor-first2=Oliver |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0415259347 |pages=165–167 |editor-link=Seyyed Hossein Nasr}}</ref> until the [[Mongol invasions]] in the 13th century. [[Ibn al-Haytham]], better known as Alhazen, used controlled experiment in his optical study.{{efn|name=doubtPtolemy|1= Ibn al-Haytham's ''[[Book of Optics]]'' Book I, [6.54]. pages 372 and 408 disputed Claudius Ptolemy's extramission theory of vision; "Hence, the extramission of [visual] rays is superfluous and useless". —A.Mark Smith's translation of the Latin version of [[Ibn al-Haytham]].<ref name="smith2001" />{{rp|Book I, [6.54]. pp. 372,408}} }}<ref name="toomer1964Review">{{cite journal |jstor=228328|last1= Toomer|first1= G.J.|title= Reviewed work: Ibn al-Haythams Weg zur Physik, Matthias Schramm|journal= Isis|volume= 55|issue= 4|pages= 463–65|year= 1964|doi=10.1086/349914}} See p. 464: "Schramm sums up [Ibn Al-Haytham's] achievement in the development of scientific method.", p. 465: "Schramm has demonstrated .. beyond any dispute that Ibn al-Haytham is a major figure in the Islamic scientific tradition, particularly in the creation of experimental techniques." p. 465: "only when the influence of Ibn al-Haytham and others on the mainstream of later medieval physical writings has been seriously investigated can Schramm's claim that Ibn al-Haytham was the true founder of modern physics be evaluated."</ref><ref name=Cohen2010b>{{cite book|last1= Cohen|first1= H. Floris|author-link= Floris Cohen|chapter = Greek nature knowledge transplanted: The Islamic world|title= How modern science came into the world. Four civilizations, one 17th-century breakthrough|date= 2010|pages=99–156|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|location= Amsterdam|isbn= 978-90-8964-239-4|edition= 2nd}}</ref> [[Avicenna]]'s compilation of the [[The Canon of Medicine|Canon of Medicine]], a medical encyclopedia, is considered to be one of the most important publications in medicine and was used until the 18th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediahis00seli|url-access= limited|year= 2006|pages= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediahis00seli/page/n168 155]–156|publisher= Springer|bibcode= 2008ehst.book.....S|isbn= 978-1-4020-4559-2|editor-last1= Selin|editor-first1= Helaine |editor-link=Helaine Selin}}</ref>

By the eleventh century, most of Europe had become Christian,<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|p=204}} and in 1088, the [[University of Bologna]] emerged as the first university in Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Russell |first=Josiah C. |year=1959 |title=Gratian, Irnerius, and the Early Schools of Bologna |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26473232 |journal=[[The Mississippi Quarterly]] |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=168–188 |jstor=26473232 |url-access=registration |quote=Perhaps even as early as 1088 (the date officially set for the founding of the University) |via=[[JSTOR]] |access-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-date=May 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527132652/https://www.jstor.org/stable/26473232 |url-status=live }}</ref> As such, demand for Latin translation of ancient and scientific texts grew,<ref name=Lindberg2007a/>{{rp|p=204}} a major contributor to the [[Renaissance of the 12th century]]. Renaissance [[scholasticism]] in western Europe flourished, with experiments done by observing, describing, and classifying subjects in nature.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Albertus-Magnus |title= St. Albertus Magnus {{pipe}} German theologian, scientist, and philosopher |access-date= October 27, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171028045424/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Albertus-Magnus |archive-date= October 28, 2017 }}</ref> In the 13th century, medical teachers and students at Bologna began opening human bodies, leading to the first anatomy textbook based on human dissection by [[Mondino de Luzzi]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Numbers |first=Ronald |url=http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057418 |title=Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-674-03327-6 |page=45 |access-date=March 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120190509/https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057418 |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>