Science in the Dark Ages The world is still largely undiscovered. People in one country or continent know little or nothing about people or ideas elsewhere. Much of the flourishing of scientific thought is taking place in China and what is now known as the Middle East.

One Possible Waveform Oops … The Barbarian Hole

Algebra circa 800 Muslim Spain becomes one of the principal centers of learning and discussion in all of Europe. This activity was mostly located in Cordoba.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi 1201-1274 Most significant alteration of Ptolemy model – replaced epicycles with complex nesting of circles Copernicus knows about this work But fails to improve the accuracy of prediction of planetary positions

More Highlights About 1000, Ibn al-Haitam, or al-Hazen, in Opticae Thesaurus, introduced the idea that light rays emanate in straight lines in all directions from every point on a luminous surface. 1079: Omar Khayyam, computed the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days 1086: Shen Kua, a Chinese scientist, writes his Dream Pool Essays in 1086. In these he outlines the principles of erosion, sedimentation and uplift 1088 (approximate). The University of Bologna is founded

New Methodologies In 1267 and 1268, Roger Bacon published proposals for educational reform, arguing for the study of nature, using observation and exact measurement, and asserting that the only basis for certainty is experience, or verification “Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience” What would Aristotle say to this?

Towards Real Science Does this represent a Bias? In 1328 or earlier, Ockham, in Summa Logicae, wrote that universals exist only in men's minds and in language, disputing the Aristotelian principle that such things as the final cause were self-evident or necessary. In other words, facts could only be correlated, not caused. Ockham's razor: ‘What can be done with fewer assumptions is done in vain with more’. Does this represent a Bias?

The Mertonians: Mean Speed Theorem – 1330s The law states that a body travelling at constant velocity will cover the same distance in the same time as an accelerated body if its velocity is half the final speed of the accelerated body. D = vt; v = at; d=at2 d = ½ at2 Experimentally determined by Galileo

Nicole Oresme Circa 1350-1360 (University of Paris) Probably the first example of what we would consider as a modern scientist – proved the mean speed theorem Paris master and bishop of Lisieux who reformulated Aristotle's doctrine of natural place in a way that allowed for the possibility of other worlds. He taught that the doctrine was valid providing only that heavy bodies were located more centrally than light ones. Since there could be many centers, there could, in principle, be many different systems of worlds

Oresme Continued Associated the idea of continuous change with a coordinate system (long before Descartes) Gave credible opposition to the idea of an unmoving Earth: “if a man in the heavens, moved and carried along by their daily motion, could see the earth distinctly..., it would appear to him that the earth is moving in daily rotation"