Portal:History of science/Article/2005 archive

March 27 - May 8, 2005
Big Science usually implies, and gets its "big-ness" from, these specific characteristics:

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 * Big budgets: The project no longer has to rely on philanthropy or industry.
 * Big staffs: There are many science practitioners involved in the project.
 * Big laboratories: The large volume of research taking place necessitates equally large facilities.

May 8, 2005 - February 8, 2006)
History of science in the Middle Ages

 Medieval Period  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. ...

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 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. ...

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 re-discovery 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.

Islamic science See Also: 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. ...

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... ...More...