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Timeline of the history of scientific method shows an overview of the
cultural inventionA Cultural invention is any new or useful innovation developed by people that is not of a physical construct. Cultural inventions include sets of behaviour adopted by groups of people as useful. They are perpetuated by being passed on to others within the group or outside it...
s that have contributed to the development of the
scientific methodScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
. For a detailed account, see History of the scientific method.
- c. 2000 BC — First text indexes (various cultures).
- c. 320 BC — First comprehensive documents categorising and subdividing knowledge, dividing knowledge into different areas by Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
,(physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, politics, and biology).
- c. 200 BC — First Catalog
A library catalog is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations...
ed libraryA library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection,...
(at AlexandriaAlexandria , with a population of 4.1 million, is the second-largest city in Egypt, and is the country's largest seaport, serving about 80% of Egypt's imports and exports...
)
- c. 800 AD — An early experiment
In scientific research, an experiment is a method of investigating causal relationships among variables, or to test a hypothesis. An experiment is a cornerstone of the empirical approach to acquiring data about the world and is used in both natural sciences and social sciences...
al method begins emerging among Muslim chemistsAlchemy and chemistry in Islam refers to the study of both traditional alchemy and early practical chemistry by Muslim scientists in the medieval Islamic world...
beginning with GeberGeber is the Latinized form of "Jabir", with the full name of Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān al azdi , a prominent polymath: a chemist and alchemist, astronomer and astrologer, engineer, geologist, philosopher, physicist, and pharmacist and physician...
who introduces controlled experimentsWhen an experiment is being conducted to investigate the effect of a single variable of interest on a particular system, a scientific control is used to minimize unintended influences on that system. Such unintended influences include researcher bias, environmental changes, and biological variation...
; other fields (early Islamic philosophyEarly Islamic philosophy or classical Islamic philosophy is a period of intense philosophical development beginning in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and lasting until the 6th century AH...
, theologyKalām is the Islamic philosophy of seeking Islamic theological principles through dialectic. In Arabic the word means "words, discussion, discourse". A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim...
, lawSharia is an Arabic word meaning ‘way’ or ‘path’. In Arabic, the collocation ‘Šarīʿat Allāh’ is traditionally used not only by Muslims, but also Christians and Jews, sometimes translating expressions such as Torat Elōhīm [תורת אלוהים] or ‘ho nómos toû theoû' '’...
and science of hadithThe Science of hadith is a general category consisting of the numerous disciplines used in the study of hadith. It is the process that Muslim scholars use to evaluate hadith, utilizing Hadith terminology...
) introduce the methods of citationLoosely, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source . More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression Loosely, a citation is a reference to a published or unpublished source (not always the original source). More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated...
, peer reviewPeer review is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given field, who are qualified and able to perform impartial review...
and open inquiry leading to development of consensusConsensus in the English language is defined firstly as unanimous or general agreement; and secondly group solidarity of belief or sentiment. Ideally, achieving consensus requires serious treatment of every group member's considered opinion...
- 1021 — The Iraq
Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
i Muslim physicistPhysics in medieval Islam included experimental physics, mathematical physics and theoretical physics.The fields of physics that were studied by Muslim scientists during this time also included optics and magnetism , mechanics , and astrophysics .These studies...
and scientist Alhazen introduces the experimental method and combines observations, experiments and rational arguments in his Book of OpticsThe Book of Optics was a seven-volume treatise on optics, physics, mathematics, anatomy and psychology written by the Iraqi Muslim scientist, Ibn al-Haytham , from 1011 to 1021, when he was under house arrest in Cairo, Egypt.The book...
to show that his intromission theory of visionLight is electromagnetic radiation, particularly radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye ....
is scientifically correct, and that the emission theory of visionEmission theory or extramission theory is the proposal that visual perception is accomplished by rays of light emitted by the eyes. This theory has been replaced by intromission theory, which states that visual perception comes from something representative of the object entering the eyes...
supported by PtolemyClaudius Ptolemaeus , known in English as Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Greek ancestry. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer and a poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under the Roman Empire, and is believed to have been born in the town of...
and EuclidEuclid , fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician and is often referred to as the "Father of Geometry." He was active in Hellenistic Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I...
is wrong
- c. 1025 — The Persian scientist
Science in medieval Islam, also known as Islamic science, is a term used in the history of science to refer to the science developed in the Islamic world between the 7th and 16th centuries, a period also known as the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists from the region were also known to develop many...
, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, develops the earliest experimental methods for minerology and mechanicsMechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment....
, and is one of the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomicalIn the history of astronomy, Islamic astronomy or Arabic astronomy refers to the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age , and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia,...
phenomena
- 1025 — In The Canon of Medicine
The Canon of Medicine is a 14-volume medical encyclopedia written by Islamic scientist and physician Ibn Sīnā...
, Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
describes the methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variationMill's Methods are five methods of induction described by philosopher John Stuart Mill in his 1843 book A System of Logic. They are intended to illuminate issues of causation....
which are critical to inductive logicInduction, also known as inductive reasoning or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning which involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion. It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships...
and the scientific method
- 1027 — In The Book of Healing
The Book of Healing is a scientific and philosophical encyclopedia written by the Persian polymath Abū Alī ibn Sīnā from Asfahana, near Bukhara in Greater Persia...
, Avicenna, known as Abū Alī Sīnā or Ibn Sīnā , and commonly known in English by his Latinized name Avicenna , was a Persian polymath and the foremost physician and philosopher of his time...
criticizes the AristotelianAristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotelianism is understood by its proponents as critically developing Plato’s theories. Most particularly, Aristotelianism brings Plato’s ideals down to Earth as goals and goods internal...
method of inductionInduction, also known as inductive reasoning or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning which involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion. It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships...
, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide", and in its place, develops examinationTo examine somebody or something is to inspect it closely; hence, an examination is a detailed inspection or analysis of an object or person....
and experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry
- 1220-1235 —, Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste , English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lincoln, was born of humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk. A.C...
, an English scholastic philosopher, theologian and the bishop of Lincoln, published his Aristotelian commentaries, which laid out the framework for the proper methods of science.
- 1265 — Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on empiricism...
, an English monk, inspired by the writings of Grosseteste, described a scientific method, which he based on a repeating cycle of observationObservation is either an activity of a living being , consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any datum collected during this activity.-Observation in science:A scientific method...
, hypothesisA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for an observable phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι - hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose." For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
, experimentation, and the need for independent verificationThe word verification may refer to:* Verification and validation, in engineering or quality management systems, it is the act of reviewing, inspecting or testing, in order to establish and document that a product, service or system meets regulatory or technical standards...
. He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results.
- 1327 — Ockham's razor clearly formulated (by William of Ockham
William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher, from Ockham, a small village in Surrey, near East Horsley...
)
- 1403 — Yongle Encyclopedia
The Yongle Encyclopedia was a Chinese compilation commissioned by the Chinese Ming Dynasty emperor Yongle in 1403 and completed by 1408...
, the first collaborative encyclopediaAn encyclopedia is a comprehensive written compendium that holds information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. Encyclopedias are divided into articles with one article on each subject covered...
- 1590 — Controlled experiments by Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon,1st Viscount St Alban KC , son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
- 1595 — Microscope
A microscope is an instrument to see objects too tiny for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy. Microscopic means invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.-History:An early microscope was made in 1590 in Middelburg, The...
invented in HollandRotterdam
The Hague
Haarlem
Dordrecht |} Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands...
- 1600 — First dedicated laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
- 1620 — Novum Organum
The Novum Organum is a philosophical work by Francis Bacon published in 1620. The title translates as "new instrument". This is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon, which was his treatise on logic and syllogism. In Novum Organum, Bacon details a new system of logic he believes to be superior...
published, (Francis BaconFrancis Bacon,1st Viscount St Alban KC , son of Nicholas Bacon by his second wife Anne Bacon, was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
)
- 1637 — First Scientific method (René Descartes
René Descartes , , also known as Renatus Cartesius , was a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic...
)
- 1638 — Galileo's Two New Sciences
The Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences was Galileo's final book and a sort of scientific testament covering much of his work in physics over the preceding thirty years.Unlike the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, it was not published with a license...
published, containing two thought experimentA thought experiment, sometimes called a gedankenexperiment in German, is a proposal for an experiment that would test or illuminate a hypothesis or theory....
s, namely Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experimentright|thumb|Hammer and Feather Drop - [[Apollo 15]] [[astronaut]] [[David Scott]] on the Moon demonstrates that Galileo was right. ....
and Galileo's shipGalileo's ship is a physics experiment proposed by Galileo Galilei, the famous 16th and 17th century physicist, astronomer, and philosopher. The experiment was created to disprove popular arguments against the idea of a rotating Earth.-Background:...
, which are intended to disprove existing physical theories by showing that they have contradictory consequences.
- 1650 — Society of experts (the Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
)
- 1650 — Experimental evidence established as the arbiter of truth (the Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence...
)
- 1665 — Repeatability
Repeatability is the variation in measurements taken by a single person or instrument on the same item and under the same conditions. A measurement may be said to be repeatable when this variation is smaller than some agreed limit...
established (Robert BoyleRobert Boyle was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, inventor, and gentleman scientist, also noted for his writings in theology. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law...
)
- 1665 — Scholarly journals
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
established
- 1675 — Peer review
Peer review is the process of subjecting an author's scholarly work, research, or ideas to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. Peer review requires a community of experts in a given field, who are qualified and able to perform impartial review...
begun
- 1687 — Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton)
- 1710 — The problem of induction
The problem of induction is the philosophical question of whether inductive reasoning leads to knowledge. That is, what is the justification for either:...
identified by David HumeDavid Hume was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and a key figure in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
- 1753 — First description of a controlled experiment using two identical populations with only one variable. James Lind
James Lind was a pioneer of naval hygiene in the Scottish and Royal navies. By conducting the first ever clinical trial, he developed the theory that citrus fruits cured scurvy...
's research into ScurvyScurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding...
among naval ratings contains the
- 1812 — The formulation by Hans Christian Ørsted
Hans Christian Ørsted was a Danish physicist and chemist who is most widely known for observing that electric currents induce magnetic fields, an important aspect of electromagnetism...
of the Latin-German mixed term Gedankenexperiment (lit. experiment conducted in the thoughts , or thought experimentA thought experiment, sometimes called a gedankenexperiment in German, is a proposal for an experiment that would test or illuminate a hypothesis or theory....
). Although the method had been in use by philosophers since antiquity.
- 1815 — An optimal design
Optimal designs are a class of experimental designs that are optimal with respect to some statistical criterion.In the design of experiments for estimating statistical models, optimal designs allow parameters to be estimated without bias and with minimum-variance...
for polynomial regressionIn statistics, polynomial regression is a form of linear regression in which the relationship between the independent variable x and the dependent variable y is modelled as an nth order polynomial...
is published by Joseph Diaz GergonneJoseph Diaz Gergonne was a French mathematician and logician.-Life:In 1791, Gergonne enlisted in the French army as a captain. That army was undergoing rapid expansion because the French government feared a foreign invasion intended to undo the French Revolution and restore Louis XVI to full power...
.
- 1877-1888 — Charles Sanders Peirce publishes "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", popularizing his trichotomy of Abduction
Abduction is a method of logical inference introduced by Charles Sanders Peirce which comes prior to induction and deduction for which the colloquial name is to have a "hunch". Abductive reasoning starts when an inquirer considers of a set of seemingly unrelated facts, armed with an intuition that...
, DeductionDeductive reasoning, sometimes called deductive logic, is reasoning which constructs or evaluates deductive arguments.In logic, an argument is said to be deductive when the truth of the conclusion is purported to follow necessarily or be a logical consequence of the premises and its corresponding...
and InductionInduction, also known as inductive reasoning or inductive logic, is a type of reasoning which involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion. It can also be seen as a form of theory-building, in which specific facts are used to create a theory that explains relationships...
. Peirce explains randomizationRandomization is the process of making something random; this means:* Generating a random permutation of a sequence .* Selecting a random sample of a population ....
as a basis for statistical inferenceStatistical inference or statistical induction comprises the use of statistics and random sampling to make inferences concerning some unknown aspect of a population...
.
- 1885 — C. S. Peirce with Joseph Jastrow
Joseph Jastrow was an American psychologist, noted for inventions in experimental psychology, design of experiments, and psycho-physics. Jastrow was one of the first scientists to study the evolution of language, publishing an article on the topic in 1886...
invents blindedBlinding can refer to:*The act of making someone blind**Metaphorical and extended uses of same: see blindness#Metaphorical uses*Blinding , a technique by which an agent can provide a service to a client in an encoded form without knowing either the real input or the real output*Blinding , an...
, randomized experiments, which become established in psychology.
- 1897 — Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin proposes the use of multiple hypotheses to assist in the design of experiments.
- 1926 — Randomized design
In the design of experiments, completely randomized designs are for studying the effects of one primary factor without the need to take other nuisance variables into account. This article describes completely randomized designs that have one primary factor. The experiment compares the values of a...
popularized and analyzed by Ronald FisherSir Ronald Aylmer Fisher, FRS was an English statistician, evolutionary biologist, eugenicist and geneticist. He was described by Anders Hald as "a genius who almost single-handedly created the foundations for modern statistical science," and Richard Dawkins described him as "the greatest of...
(following Peirce)
- 1934 — Falsifiability
Falsifiability is the logical possibility that an assertion can be shown false by an observation or a physical experiment. That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, that if it is false, then this can be shown by observation or experiment. Falsifiability is an important...
as a criterion for evaluating new hypotheses is popularized by Karl PopperSir Karl Raimund Popper, CH, FRS, FBA was an Austrian and British philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of the most influential philosophers of science of the 20th century, and also wrote extensively on social and political philosophy...
's The Logic of Scientific DiscoveryLogik der Forschung is a 1934 book by Karl Popper. It was originally written in German, but reformulated in English by Popper himself some years later, to be published as The Logic of Scientific Discovery in 1959. This forms the rare case of a major work to appear in two languages, both written by...
(following Peirce)
- 1937 — Controlled placebo
Placebo effect may refer to:* Placebo effect, the tendency of any medication or treatment, even an inert or ineffective one, to exhibit results simply because the recipient believes that it will work...
trial
- 1946 — First computer simulation
A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
- 1950 — Double blind experiment
- 1962 — Meta study of scientific method (Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , by Thomas Kuhn, is an analysis of the history of science. Its publication was a landmark event in the sociology of knowledge, and popularized the terms paradigm and paradigm shift.-History:...
)
- 1964 — Strong inference
Strong Inference is a model of scientific inquiry developed by John R. Platt. Platt notes that certain fields, such as molecular biology and high-energy physics, seem to adhere strongly to strong inference, with very beneficial results for the rate of progress in those fields.-The single...
proposed by John R. Platt
- 2009 — Adam
Adam is a laboratory robot created and developed by the Computational Biology research group at Aberystwyth University. As a prototype for a "robot scientist", Adam is able to perform independent experiments to test hypotheses and interpret findings without human guidance...
- First working prototype of a "robot scientist" able to perform independent experiments to test hypotheses and interpret findings without human guidance.