Editing History of physics (section)

===Medieval Europe===
{{main| European science in the Middle Ages}}
Awareness of ancient works re-entered the West through [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translations from Arabic to Latin]]. Their re-introduction, combined with [[Islam and Judaism|Judeo-Islamic]] theological commentaries, had a great influence on [[Medieval philosophy|Medieval philosophers]] such as [[Thomas Aquinas]]. [[Scholasticism|Scholastic European scholars]], who sought to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with [[Christian theology]], proclaimed Aristotle the greatest thinker of the ancient world. In cases where they did not directly contradict the Bible, Aristotelian physics became the foundation for the physical explanations of the European Churches. Quantification became a core element of medieval physics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crombie |first=A. C. |date=1961 |title=Quantification in Medieval Physics |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/228677 |journal=Isis |volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=143–160 |doi=10.1086/349467 |jstor=228677 |issn=0021-1753}}</ref>

Based on Aristotelian physics, Scholastic physics described things as moving according to their essential nature. Celestial objects were described as moving in circles, because perfect circular motion was considered an innate property of objects that existed in the uncorrupted realm of the [[celestial spheres]]. 
Motions below the lunar sphere were seen as imperfect, and thus could not be expected to exhibit consistent motion. More idealized motion in the "sublunary" realm could only be achieved through [[Mechanics (Aristotle)|artifice]], and prior to the 17th century, many did not view artificial experiments as a valid means of learning about the natural world. Physical explanations in the sublunary realm revolved around tendencies. Stones contained the element earth, and earthly objects tended to move in a straight line toward the centre of the earth (and the universe in the Aristotelian geocentric view) unless otherwise prevented from doing so.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lindberg|first=David C.|title=The Beginnings of Western Science|date=1992|publisher=University of Chicago Press|doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226482064.001.0001|isbn=978-0-226-48231-6}}</ref>

Aristotle's physics was not scrutinized until [[John Philoponus]], who relied on observation rather than verbal argument like Aristotle.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://homepages.wmich.edu/~mcgrew/philfall.htm | title=John Philoponus, Commentary on Aristotle's Physics | access-date=15 April 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160111105753/http://homepages.wmich.edu/~mcgrew/philfall.htm | archive-date=11 January 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Philoponus' criticism of Aristotelian principles of physics served as an inspiration for [[Galileo Galilei]] ten centuries later,<ref name="dialogTwoNewSciences">{{cite book |last=Galileo | authorlink= Galileo | date=1638 |title=[[Two New Sciences]] |quote=in order to better understand just how conclusive Aristotle's demonstration is, we may, in my opinion, deny both of his assumptions. And as to the first, I greatly doubt that Aristotle ever tested by experiment whether it be true that two stones, one weighing ten times as much as the other, if allowed to fall, at the same instant, from a height of, say, 100 cubits, would so differ in speed that when the heavier had reached the ground, the other would not have fallen more than 10 cubits.<br />Simp. – His language would seem to indicate that he had tried the experiment, because he says: We see the heavier; now the word see shows that he had made the experiment.<br />Sagr. – But I, Simplicio, who have made the test can assure[107] you that a cannon ball weighing one or two hundred pounds, or even more, will not reach the ground by as much as a span ahead of a musket ball weighing only half a pound, provided both are dropped from a height of 200 cubits.}}</ref> during the [[Scientific Revolution]]. Galileo cited Philoponus substantially in his works when arguing that Aristotelian physics was flawed.{{sfn|Lindberg|1992|page=162}}<ref>{{Cite book| chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/| title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter=John Philoponus| publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University| year=2018| access-date=11 April 2018| archive-date=22 April 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422010906/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/| url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1300s [[Jean Buridan]], a teacher in the faculty of arts at the [[University of Paris]], developed the [[theory of impetus|concept of impetus]]. It was a step toward the modern ideas of inertia and momentum.<ref>{{Cite book| chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buridan/| title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter=John Buridan| publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University| year=2018| access-date=11 April 2018| archive-date=22 April 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422012611/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/buridan/| url-status=live}}</ref>

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