Editing History of science (section)

====Medieval science====
The first half of the 14th century saw much important scientific work, largely within the framework of [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] commentaries on Aristotle's scientific writings.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 127–131.</ref> [[William of Ockham]] emphasized the principle of [[Occam's razor|parsimony]]: natural philosophers should not postulate unnecessary entities, so that motion is not a distinct thing but is only the moving object<ref>Edward Grant, ''A Source Book in Medieval Science'', (Harvard Univ. Press, 1974), p. 232</ref> and an intermediary "sensible species" is not needed to transmit an image of an object to the eye.<ref>David C. Lindberg, ''Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler'', (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Pr., 1976), pp. 140–142.</ref> Scholars such as [[Jean Buridan]] and [[Nicole Oresme]] started to reinterpret elements of Aristotle's mechanics. In particular, Buridan developed the theory that impetus was the cause of the motion of projectiles, which was a first step towards the modern concept of [[inertia]].<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 95–97.</ref> The [[Oxford Calculators]] began to mathematically analyze the [[kinematics]] of motion, making this analysis without considering the causes of motion.<ref>Edward Grant, ''The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts'', (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996), pp. 100–103.</ref>

In 1348, the [[Black Death]] and other disasters sealed a sudden end to philosophic and scientific development. Yet, the rediscovery of ancient texts was stimulated by the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, when many Byzantine scholars sought refuge in the West. Meanwhile, the introduction of printing was to have great effect on European society. The facilitated dissemination of the printed word democratized learning and allowed ideas such as [[algebra]] to propagate more rapidly. These developments paved the way for the [[Scientific Revolution]], where scientific inquiry, halted at the start of the Black Death, resumed.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Renaissance: The 'Rebirth' of Science & Culture|url=https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html|first=Jessie|department=Historical development|last=Szalay|date=2016-06-29|website=LiveScience.com|access-date=2019-07-19|archive-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027214636/https://www.livescience.com/55230-renaissance.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oK4HTBcdSJsC&pg=PR14|first=Robert S.|last=Gottfried|publisher=Free Press|isbn=978-0-02-912370-6|title=The Black Death: Natural & Human Disaster in Medieval Europe|year=1985|access-date=2019-07-19|page=xiv|archive-date=3 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803141629/https://books.google.com/books?id=oK4HTBcdSJsC&pg=PR14|url-status=live}}</ref>