MEPX
Chapter 1 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Before modern science
  2. 2The scientific revolution
  3. 3Chemistry and the elements
  4. 4Life sciences
  5. 5Modern physics
  6. 6The molecular era
  7. 7Computing and mathematics
  8. 8Astronomy and space
  9. 9Medicine and public health
  10. 10What the record shows

Chapter 1 of 10

Before modern science

Observation and argument.

Ancient and medieval

Aristotle systematised natural philosophy, Archimedes established mechanics and hydrostatics, and Ibn al-Haytham set out experimental method in optics around 1000 CE.

  • Much Greek learning reached Europe through Arabic translation and commentary.
  • Alhazen's insistence on testing claims prefigures modern method.

The shift

What changed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was not curiosity but the systematic use of experiment, mathematics and published, checkable results.