The+Invention+of+the+Scientific+Method


 * The Invention of the Scientific Method **


 * Group Members: ** Zi Han, Xu Xinchao Kendra, Chow Hui Xuan, Isabel, Zi Shu

· ** Timeline of Key Events ** o 1000 AD — Collaborative [|encyclopedia] o 1561 ： Francis Bacon was born o 1591: Galileo Galilei Demonstrates the Properties of Gravity ， Galileo demonstrates, from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa, that a one- pound weight and a one hundred-pound weight, dropped at the same moment, hit the ground at the same moment, refuting the contention of the Aristotelian system that the rate of fall of an object is dependent upon its weight. He expounds fully on this demonstration years later in his 1638 //Discourse on Two New Sciences.// o 1596- Rene Descartes born o 1610: Galileo Publishes //Messenger of the Heavens// Galileo's 24-page booklet describes his telescopic observations of the moon's surface, and of Jupiter's moons, making the Church uneasy. The Inquisition soon warns Galileo to desist from spreading his theories. o 1650- Descartes dies. o John Stuart Mill Born in 1806 in london o Charles Sanders Peirce  died in   [|Avignon] ,  [|France]  , in 1873, o John Stuart Mill ‘s //A System of Logic// was first published in 1843
 * 1021 — The [|Iraqi] [|Muslim physicist] and scientist [|Alhazen] introduces the experimental method and combines observations, experiments and rational arguments in his [|//Book of Optics//] to show that his intromission theory of [|vision] is scientifically correct, and that the [|emission theory of vision] supported by [|Ptolemy] and [|Euclid] is wrong
 * c. 1025 — The [|Persian scientist], [|Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī] , develops the earliest experimental methods for [|minerology] and [|mechanics] , and is one of the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to [|astronomical] phenomena
 * 1025 — In [|//The Canon of Medicine//], <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Avicenna] describes the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variation] which are critical to <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|inductive logic] and the scientific method
 * 1265 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Roger Bacon], an English monk, inspired by the writings of Grosseteste, described a scientific method, which he based on a repeating cycle of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|observation] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|hypothesis] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|experimentation] , and the need for independent <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|verification] . He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results.
 * 1403 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Yongle Encyclopedia], the first collaborative <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|encyclopedia]
 * 1590 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Controlled experiments] by <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Francis Bacon]
 * 1595 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Microscope] invented in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Holland]
 * 1600 — First dedicated <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|laboratory]
 * 1608 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Telescope] invented in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Holland]
 * 1620 — [|//Novum Organum//] published, <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Francis Bacon] outlined a new <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|system of logic] to improve upon the old <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|philosophical] process of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|syllogism].
 * 1637 — First <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Scientific method] ( <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|René Descartes] ) <span style="font-family: 宋体; font-size: 11pt;">， the framework for a scientific method's guiding principles
 * 1638 — Galileo's <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Two New Sciences] published, containing two <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|thought experiments], namely <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Galileo's ship] , which are intended to disprove existing physical theories by showing that they have contradictory consequences.
 * 1687 — Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton)
 * 1877-1888 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Charles Sanders Peirce] publishes "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", popularizing his trichotomy of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Abduction], <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Deduction] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Induction] . Peirce explains <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|randomization] as a basis for <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|statistical inference] . Peirce accelerated the progress on
 * 1885 — <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|C. S. Peirce] with <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Joseph Jastrow] invents <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|blinded], <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|randomized experiments] , which become established in psychology. [|[5]]
 * 1946 — First <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Computer simulation]

= - Roger Bacon (c.1214-c.1292) = Roger Bacon, also known as Doctor Mirabilis, was an <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|English] [|philosopher] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Franciscan] friar who placed considerable emphasis on <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|empiricism]. He is credited to be the first scholar to promote <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|inductive reasoning] as part of the scientific method, and is thought of as one of the earliest advocates of the modern scientific method.
 * Biographies of Scientists Involved & Their Contributions

Bacon believed that craftsman and skilled tradesman had a greater knowledge of reality than that of his peers in the ivory towers, and was an enthusiastic proponent and practitioner of the experimental method of acquiring knowledge about the world. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Roger Bacon] was inspired by the writings of Robert Grosseteste who had built upon <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Aristotle] 's portrait of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|induction] and the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|experimental] scientific methods of Alhazen(Ibn al-Haytham) and Avicenna. In his enunciation of a method, Bacon described a repeating cycle of 4 major steps: [|//observation//], [|//hypothesis//] , [|//experimentation//] , and the need for independent [|//verification//]. He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results. It was he who advocated the study of mathematics to facilitate the grounding of the scientific method in quantitative techniques.

- ** Francis Bacon (1561-1626) ** Francis Bacon, born on 22 January at <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|York House] near the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Strand] in London, son of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Nicholas Bacon] by his second wife <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Anne (Cooke) Bacon], was an <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|English] [|philosopher] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|statesman] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|scientist] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|lawyer] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|jurist] , and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|author]. He entered <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Trinity College, Cambridge] in April, 1573, where he applied himself diligently to the several sciences as then taught, and came to the conclusion that the methods employed and the results attained were alike erroneous; he learned to despise the current Aristotelian philosophy. In 1618, Bacon was appointed to the position of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Lord Chancellor]. However, Bacon's public career ended in disgrace in 1621. He was disgraced for bribery and spent his remaining years in seclusion. An outstanding thinker, Bacon was motivated to write in areas as far-reaching as science and civil government in a battle against the old order of scholasticism with its slavish dependence on accepted authorities. His passion for the advancement of natural philosophy was rooted in his belief that science was dependent on and the key to technological progress. Much of his greatest philosophical effort was applied to the //Novum Organum// in which he described the inductive method of reasoning for the interpretation of nature. Bacon's main influence on science was his emphasis on developing general laws that apply to observations, laws formed by <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">thoughtfully collecting as many instances as possible and abstracting the laws in a process called induction. Bacon attempted to describe a rational procedure for establishing causation between phenomena based on induction. It was, however, a radically different form of induction to that employed by the Aristotelians. Francis Bacon continued the work of Roger Bacon, strengthening the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|inductive process]. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">His method relied on experimental //histories// to eliminate alternative theories, and included these 4 steps: empirical observations, systematic experiments, analyzing experimental evidence and inductive reasoning. Bacon’s inductive method was a way of relating observations to the universe and natural phenomena through establishing <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|cause and effect]. Bacon did not doubt humans’ ability to know the natural world, but merely believed they had proceeded incorrectly. His accomplishment was in setting an intellectual tone and helping to create a climate conducive to scientific work. Regarded as the father of empiricism and of experimentation in science, Bacon put forth the new scientific method built on inductive principles. He believed that from carefully organized experiments and thorough, systematic observations, correct generalizations would be developed. He felt that human knowledge should produce deeds rather than just words, and urged philosophers and investigators of nature to examine the evidence of their senses before constructing logical speculations. By directing natural philosophy towards an examination of empirical evidence, Bacon hoped it would achieve new knowledge and hence new capabilities for humankind. Although his political career ended in disgrace, Francis Bacon remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">scientific revolution. His works established and popularized the inductive methodology for <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">scientific inquiry, called the //Baconian method// or the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">scientific method. His demand for a planned procedure of investigating all things natural marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, much of which still surrounds conceptions of proper <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">methodology today. - ** Ibn Al-Haytham ** Ibn Al-Haytham or known as Alhazen was a <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Persian] or <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Arab] <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|scientist] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|polymath]. He was born on 965 CE (Common Era) in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Basra in present-day <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Iraq, a part of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Buyid Persia at that time. He probably died in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Cairo, <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Egypt on 1040 CE. During the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Islamic Golden Age, Basra was a "key beginning of learning", and he was educated there and in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Baghdad , the capital of the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Abbasid Caliphate , and the focus of the "high point of Islamic civilization". He made significant contributions to the principles of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|optics], as well as to <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|anatomy] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|astronomy] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|engineering] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|mathematics] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|medicine] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|ophthalmology] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|philosophy] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|physics] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|psychology] , <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|visual perception] , and to <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|science] in general with his introduction of the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|scientific method]. Alhazen is considered to be the pioneer of the modern scientific method, because of his formulation of a modern quantitative and empirical approach to physics and science. He was also the one who developed the first of experimental scientific methods. Alhazen’s scientific method was similar to the modern scientific method and consisted of the following procedures: Alhazen emphasized a lot on the role of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">empiricism. He also explained the role of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">induction ( a type of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">reasoning that involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion) in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">syllogism (a type of deductive reasoning from the general to the specific), and criticized <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Aristotle for his lack of contribution to the method of induction, which Ibn al-Haytham regarded as superior to syllogism, and he considered induction to be the basic requirement for true scientific research. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[] [] Al-Biruni = Al-biruni or known as, Abu Rayhan Biruni was born on 5 September 973 CE in Kath, <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Khwarezm] (now in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Uzbekistan] ), and died on 13 December 1048 CE in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Ghazni], today's <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|Afghanistan] ). Al-Biruni was one of the earliest leading exponents of the experimental <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|scientific method] , and was responsible for introducing the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|experimental] method into <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|mechanics] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|mineralogy] , a pioneer of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|comparative sociology] and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|experimental psychology] , and the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">[|astronomical] phenomena. = Al-Biruni's scientific method resembled the modern scientific method in a number of ways, particularly his emphasis on repeated experimentation. Biruni was concerned with how to conceptualize and prevent both <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">systematic errors and <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">random errors, such as "errors caused by the use of small instruments and errors made by human observers." He argued that if instruments produce random errors because of their imperfections or idiosyncratic qualities, then multiple observations must be taken, <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">analyzed qualitatively, and on this basis, arrive at a "common-sense single value for the constant sought", whether an <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">arithmetic mean or a "reliable <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">estimate ." [|[25]] In his scientific method, "universals came out of practical, <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">experimental work" and "theories are formulated after discoveries", like with <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">inductivism, where general statements (theories) have to be based on empirical observations, which are subsequently generalized into statements which can either be regarded as true or probably true. - ** Descartes ** (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) Descartes was born in <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|La Haye en Touraine]  (now  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Descartes]  ),  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Indre-et-Loire] ,  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|France]. When he was one year old, his mother Jeanne Brochard died of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|tuberculosis]. Raised by his grandmother, he was well-educated thanks to his father’s financial support. Around the age of eleven, he entered the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Jesuit] [|Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand]  at  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|La Flèche]. [|[4]] After graduation, he studied at the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|University of Poitiers] , earning a  [|//Baccalauréat//]  and // Licence // in  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|law]  in 1616. In the summer of 1618 he joined the army of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Maurice of Nassau]  in the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Dutch Republic]. It was then Descartes met <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Isaac Beeckman] , who sparked his interest in mathematics and the new physics. After retiring from the army in 1621, Descartes spent 4 years in touring Europe and lived in Italy for 2 years and then went to Paris. He returned to the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Dutch Republic]  in 1628, where he lived until September 1649. In April 1629 he joined the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|University of Franeker]  and the next year, under the name "Poitevin", he enrolled at the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Leiden University]  to study mathematics with  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Jacob Golius]  and astronomy with  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Martin Hortensius]. In these 20 years, he focused on the studies of philosophy and finally formed his own ideology. Many of his representative works were written and published during his time in Holland including //Discourse on Method,// //   Méditations métaphysiques and Les Principes de la philosophie. //  René Descartes died because of   <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|pneumonia]  on 11 February 1650 in  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Stockholm] ,  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Sweden]  , where he had been invited as a teacher for Queen  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Christina of Sweden]  .In 1663, the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Pope]  placed his works on the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Index of Prohibited Books]. The ban was lifted in 1740 in Paris on the purpose of replacing Newton’s theories.
 * 1) Explicit statement of a problem, tied to <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">observation and to proof by <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">experiment
 * 2) Testing and/or criticism of a <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">hypothesis using <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">experimentation
 * 3) Interpretation of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">data and formulation of a conclusion using <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">mathematics
 * 4) The <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">publication of the findings

Dubbed as “Father of Modern Philosophy”, René Descartes was not only a famous French philosopher in the 17th century, but also an outstanding <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|mathematician] ,   a  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|physicist]  , and a writer as well.

As a mathematician, he created Analytic geometry (also known as coordinate Geometry or Cartesian geometry) which enabled people to use algebra to describe geometry. He also "invented" the notation which uses  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|superscripts]  to show the powers or exponents. <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Descartes' rule of signs] is also commonly used   to determine the number of positive and negative roots of a polynomial. Also, by applying infinitesimal <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|calculus]  to the  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|tangent line problem]  s. Descartes' theory set the foundation for the calculus of  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Newton]  and  <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|Leibniz] , thus permitted the evolution of that branch of modern mathematics.

In the field of physics, he discovered the laws of reflection independently and he found out that the angular radius of a rainbow is 42 degrees using geometric construction and the <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|law of refraction].

Most importantly, Descartes was the first man who attempted to apply the new methods of science to theories of knowledge, and hence, laid the foundation for modern philosophy. Initially the thought came from his most famous quote“I think, therefore I am”, which proved his existence by the existence of his thoughts that were inseparable from him. Descartes concludes that he can be certain that he exists because he thinks, but he doubted the form of the existence. H e perceived his body through the use of the senses; however, these have previously been unreliable. So Descartes determines that the only indubitable knowledge is that he is a  thinking thing. Thinking is his essence as it is the only thing about him that cannot be doubted. Based on this, he came up with the new  method of science which was written in his book//.// There are four basic precepts that characterize the Method itself:

"The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to comprise nothing more in my judgment than what was presented to my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|doubt] . The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution. The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex; assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence. And the last, in every case to make <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; textunderline: none;">[|enumerations] so complete, and reviews so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted." -from // Discourse on Method. //

· Major Discoveries and Achievements, and their Importance To sum it all up, the achievements by these scientists have exerted great influence on the growth of current-day science, specifically with regards to the scientific research method.

For Bacon, his most significant contribution to the scientific research method is his discovery of the inductive reasoning method for scientific research, along with the laws of observation, and also the repetitive cycle of 4 main research steps, namely [|observation], [|hypothesis] , [|experimentation] , and verification (inductive reasoning from collected data). His works established and publicised this research methodology, commonly known as Baconian method or Scientific method, which initiated a breakthrough in the olden theory-bound structure of scientific research, and continues to reside abundantly in modern scientific research concepts.

Ibn Al-Haytham’s main contributions was his introduction of the modern Scientific research method, for which he was commonly regarded as the pioneer; he formulated the first of scientific experiments, and much of it is similar to the modern scientific method as seen nowadays. He was also a firm supporter of the Induction reasoning method, and the steps in his experimental methodology were an important stepping stone for the formulation of experimental procedures in the current scientific method. = Al-biruni was, again, an early pioneer of the scientific experimental method. His main contributions were the introduction of such a method into disciplines such as mechanics, mineralogy, and astronomy, in which he pioneered the first astronomically related experiments. The emphasis on the practical need for repeated experimentation, as a means to mitigate systematic errors and random errors (such as human or instrumental error), is common in both Al-biruni’s scientific method and the modern scientific method; he highlighted the intervening factor of experimental errors which gave rise to the need for multiple observations and qualitative analysis, adding more crucial practicality to the grounds of scientific research. =  As for Descartes, despite not being one of the pioneers in such discoveries, he was the first to actually apply the aforementioned research methods to scientific theory formulations, building the foundation for modern science. He introduced the main concepts of scientific research, such as the need for convincing evidence, dissection of problems in detail, logical flow / accumulation of information, and all-encompassing generalization, and believed that scientific research should be systematic and precise.