Editing Physics (section)

=== Medieval European and Islamic ===
{{main|European science in the Middle Ages|Physics in the medieval Islamic world}}

[[File:Ibn al-Haytham crop.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Ibn al-Haytham]] ({{Circa|965|1040}}) wrote of his ''camera obscura'' experiments in the ''Book of Optics''.{{sfn|Smith|2001|loc=Book I [6.85], [6.86], p. 379; Book II, [3.80], p. 453}}|alt=Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen) drawing]]

The [[Western Roman Empire]] fell to invaders and internal decay in the fifth century, resulting in a decline in intellectual pursuits in western Europe. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire (usually known as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) resisted the attacks from invaders and continued to advance various fields of learning, including physics.{{sfn|Lindberg|1992|page=363}}  In the sixth century, [[John Philoponus]] challenged the dominant Aristotelian approach to science although much of his work was focused on Christian theology.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wildberg |first=Christian |date=2021 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |title=John Philoponus |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/philoponus/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref>

In the sixth century, [[Isidore of Miletus]] created an important compilation of [[Archimedes]]' works that are copied in the [[Archimedes Palimpsest]].
[[Science in the medieval Islamic world|Islamic scholarship]] inherited [[Aristotelian physics]] from the Greeks and during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] developed it further, especially placing emphasis on observation and ''[[A priori and a posteriori|a priori]]'' reasoning, developing early forms of the [[scientific method]].

The most notable innovations under Islamic scholarship were in the field of [[optics]] and vision,<ref>{{cite book |last= Dallal|first=Ahmad  |author-link= |date= 2010|title=Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History |url= |location=New Haven |publisher= Yale University Press|page=38 |isbn=|quote = Within two centuries, the field of optics was radically transformed}}</ref> which came from the works of many scientists like [[Ibn Sahl (mathematician)|Ibn Sahl]], [[Al-Kindi]], [[Ibn al-Haytham]], [[Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī|Al-Farisi]] and [[Avicenna]]. The most notable work was ''[[Book of Optics|The Book of Optics]]'' (also known as Kitāb al-Manāẓir), written by Ibn al-Haytham, in which he presented the alternative to the ancient Greek idea about vision.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tbakhi |first1=Abdelghani |last2=Amr |first2=Samir S. |date=2007 |title=Ibn Al-Haytham: Father of Modern Optics |journal=Annals of Saudi Medicine |volume=27 |issue=6 |pages=464–467 |doi=10.5144/0256-4947.2007.464 |issn=0256-4947 |pmc=6074172 |pmid=18059131}}</ref> His discussed his experiments with [[camera obscura]], showing that light moved in a straight line; he encouraged readers to reproduce his experiments making him one of the originators of the [[scientific method]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Al-Khalili |first=Jim |date=February 2015 |title=In retrospect: Book of Optics |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/518164a |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=518 |issue=7538 |pages=164–165 |doi=10.1038/518164a |bibcode=2015Natur.518..164A |issn=1476-4687}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb |Howard|Rogers|1995|pp=6–7}}</ref>

[[File:Pinhole-camera.svg|thumb|left|upright|The basic way a pinhole camera works]]
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