Editing Jesuits (section)

==In science==
{{See also|List of Jesuit scientists}}[[File:Jesuites en chine.jpg|thumb|[[Jesuit China missions|Jesuit]] scholars in [[China]]. Top: [[Matteo Ricci]], [[Adam Schall von Bell|Adam Schall]] and [[Ferdinand Verbiest]] (1623–88). Bottom: [[Xu Guangqi|Paul Siu (Xu Guangqi)]], as ''Colao'' or Prime Minister of State, and his granddaughter Candide Hiu.]]

Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the teaching of science in Jesuit schools, as laid down in the ''Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu'' ("The Official Plan of studies for the Society of Jesus") of 1599,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jesuit Ratio Studiorum of 1599 |url=http://www.bc.edu/sites/libraries/ratio/ratio1599.pdf |access-date=16 January 2023 |archive-date=27 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227101629/http://www.bc.edu/sites/libraries/ratio/ratio1599.pdf |url-status=dead |translator=Allan P. Farrell |publisher=Conference of Major Supporters of Jesuits |year=1970 |orig-year=1599 }}</ref> was almost entirely based on the works of [[Aristotle]].

The Jesuits, nevertheless, have made numerous significant contributions to the development of science.<ref name="Principe"/> For example, the Jesuits have dedicated significant study to fields from [[cosmology]] to [[seismology]], the latter of which has been described as "the Jesuit science".{{sfn|Hough|2007|p=68}} The Jesuits have been described as "the single most important contributor to experimental physics in the seventeenth century".{{sfn|Ashworth|1986|p=154}}

According to [[Jonathan Wright (historian)|Jonathan Wright]] in his book ''God's Soldiers'', by the eighteenth century the Jesuits had "contributed to the development of [[pendulum clock]]s, [[pantograph]]s, [[barometer]]s, [[reflecting telescope]]s and [[microscope]]s – to scientific fields as various as [[magnetism]], [[optics]], and [[electricity]]. They observed, in some cases before anyone else, the colored bands on [[Jupiter]]'s surface, the [[Andromeda Galaxy|Andromeda nebula]], and [[Saturn]]'s rings. They theorized about the circulation of the blood (independently of [[William Harvey|Harvey]]), the theoretical possibility of flight, the way the moon affected the tides, and the wave-like nature of light."{{sfn|Wright|2004|p=200}}

The [[Jesuit China missions]] of the 16th and 17th centuries introduced Western science and [[astronomy]]. One modern historian writes that in late Ming courts, the Jesuits were "regarded as impressive especially for their knowledge of astronomy, calendar-making, mathematics, [[hydraulics]], and geography".{{sfn|Ebrey|2010|p=212}} The Society of Jesus introduced, according to [[Thomas Woods]], "a substantial body of scientific knowledge and a vast array of mental tools for understanding the physical universe, including the Euclidean geometry that made planetary motion comprehensible".{{sfn|Woods|2005|p=101}}