Editing Scientific Revolution (section)

===Scientific experimentation===
Bacon first described the [[scientific experimentation|experimental method]].
{{blockquote | There remains simple experience; which, if taken as it comes, is called accident, if sought for, experiment. The true method of experience first lights the candle [hypothesis], and then by means of the candle shows the way [arranges and delimits the experiment]; commencing as it does with experience duly ordered and digested, not bungling or erratic, and from it deducing axioms [theories], and from established axioms again new experiments. | Francis Bacon. ''Novum Organum.'' 1620.<ref>Durant, Will. The Story of Philosophy. Page 101 Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. 1926. {{ISBN|978-0-671-69500-2}}</ref>}}

Gilbert was an early advocate of this method. He passionately rejected both the prevailing Aristotelian philosophy and the [[Scholasticism|scholastic]] method of university teaching. His book ''[[De Magnete]]'' was written in 1600, and he is regarded by some as the father of [[electricity]] and magnetism.<ref>[[Merriam-Webster]] Collegiate Dictionary, 2000, CD-ROM, version 2.5.</ref> In this work, he describes many of his experiments with his model Earth called the [[terrella]]. From these experiments, he concluded that the Earth was itself magnetic and that this was the reason [[compass]]es point north.{{fact|date=April 2023}}

[[File:Gilbert De Magnete Illo044.jpg|thumb|left|Diagram from [[William Gilbert (astronomer)|William Gilbert]]'s ''[[De Magnete]]'', a pioneering 1600 work of experimental science]]
''De Magnete'' was influential because of the inherent interest of its subject matter as well as for the rigorous way in which Gilbert describes his experiments and his rejection of ancient theories of magnetism.<ref>Gimpel, Jean (1976) ''The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages''. New York, Penguin. {{ISBN|0-7607-3582-4}}. p. 194.</ref> According to [[Thomas Thomson (chemist)|Thomas Thomson]], "Gilbert['s]... book on magnetism published in 1600, is one of the finest examples of inductive philosophy that has ever been presented to the world. It is the more remarkable, because it preceded the ''Novum Organum'' of Bacon, in which the inductive method of philosophizing was first explained."<ref>Thomson, Thomas (1812) [https://books.google.com/books?id=nqjjR4Qt9IgC ''History of the Royal Society: from its Institution to the End of the Eighteenth Century''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221208081358/https://books.google.com/books?id=nqjjR4Qt9IgC& |date=8 December 2022 }}. R. Baldwin. p. 461</ref>

Galileo Galilei has been called the "father of modern [[observational astronomy]],"<ref>{{Cite journal|title = A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century|first = Charles|last = Singer|year = 1941|publisher = Clarendon Press|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=mPIgAAAAMAAJ|page = 217|access-date = 23 March 2023|archive-date = 26 March 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164811/https://books.google.com/books?id=mPIgAAAAMAAJ|url-status = live}}</ref> the "father of modern physics,"<ref>{{cite book |title=Renaissance Genius: Galileo Galilei & His Legacy to Modern Science |first1=David |last1=Whitehouse |publisher=Sterling Publishing Company |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4027-6977-1 |page=219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGKrPVoQY8QC&pg=PA219 |access-date=7 November 2015 |archive-date=2 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102074054/https://books.google.com/books?id=bGKrPVoQY8QC&pg=PA219#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> the "father of science,"<ref>{{cite book |title=The Mathematical Theory of Elasticity |edition=2nd |first1=Richard B. |last1=Hetnarski |first2=Józef |last2=Ignaczak |publisher=CRC Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4398-2888-5 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18CYMW-CG_gC&pg=PA3 |access-date=7 November 2015 |archive-date=2 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102074010/https://books.google.com/books?id=18CYMW-CG_gC&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> and "the Father of Modern Science."<ref name=finocchiaro2007>{{cite journal|doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2007.00189_68.x|title=The Person of the Millennium: The Unique Impact of Galileo on World History ? By Manfred Weidhorn|journal=The Historian|volume=69|issue=3|page=601|year=2007|last1=Finocchiaro|first1=Maurice A.|s2cid=144988723}}</ref> His original contributions to the science of motion were made through an innovative combination of experiment and mathematics.<ref>[[#Sharratt|Sharratt]], pp. 204–05</ref> Galileo was one of the first modern thinkers to clearly state that the laws of nature are mathematical. In ''[[The Assayer]]'' he wrote "Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe&nbsp;... It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures;...."<ref>{{cite book |last=Drake |first=Stillman |date=1957 |title=Discoveries and Opinions of Galileo |location=New York |publisher=[[Doubleday & Company]] |isbn=978-0-385-09239-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/discoveriesopini00gali_0/page/237 237–38] |url=https://archive.org/details/discoveriesopini00gali_0/page/237 }}</ref> His mathematical analyses are a further development of a tradition employed by late scholastic natural philosophers, which Galileo learned when he studied philosophy.<ref>Wallace, William A. (1984) ''Galileo and His Sources: The Heritage of the Collegio Romano in Galileo's Science,'' Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pr. {{ISBN|0-691-08355-X}}</ref> He ignored Aristotelianism. In broader terms, his work marked another step towards the eventual separation of science from both philosophy and religion; a major development in human thought. He was often willing to change his views in accordance with observation. In order to perform his experiments, Galileo had to set up standards of length and time, so that measurements made on different days and in different laboratories could be compared in a reproducible fashion. This provided a reliable foundation on which to confirm mathematical laws using inductive reasoning.{{fact|date=April 2023}}

Galileo showed an appreciation for the relationship between mathematics, theoretical physics, and experimental physics. He understood the [[parabola]], both in terms of [[conic section]]s and in terms of the [[Abscissa and ordinate|ordinate]] (y) varying as the square of the abscissa (x). Galilei further asserted that the parabola was the theoretically ideal [[trajectory]] of a uniformly accelerated projectile in the absence of [[friction]] and other disturbances. He conceded that there are limits to the validity of this theory, noting on theoretical grounds that a projectile trajectory of a size comparable to that of the Earth could not possibly be a parabola,<ref>[[#Sharratt|Sharratt]], pp. 202–04</ref> but he nevertheless maintained that for distances up to the range of the artillery of his day, the deviation of a projectile's trajectory from a parabola would be only very slight.<ref>[[#Sharratt|Sharratt]], 202–04</ref><ref>{{Cite book|ref= Reference-Favaro-1890|editor-last= Favaro|editor-first= Antonio|date= 1890–1909|title= Le Opere di Galileo Galilei, Edizione Nazionale|url= http://moro.imss.fi.it/lettura/LetturaWEB.DLL?VOL=8&VOLPAG=274|volume= 8|pages= 274–75|trans-title= The Works of Galileo Galilei, National Edition|language= it|place= [[Florence]]|publisher= Barbera|isbn= 978-88-09-20881-0|access-date= 20 July 2014|archive-date= 27 September 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070927232006/http://moro.imss.fi.it/lettura/LetturaWEB.DLL?VOL=8&VOLPAG=274|url-status= live}}</ref>