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Timeline of the scientific method

13,417 bytes added, 10:41, 23 July 2019
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{{Attribute English Wikipedia|original-exists=yes}}

This is a '''[[wikipedia:Timeline of the history of scientific method|timeline of the scientific method]]'''.

==Big picture==

{| class="wikitable"
! Time period !! Development summary !! More details
|-
|}

==Full timeline==
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Date !! Details

|-
| c. 1600 BC || The {{W|Edwin Smith Papyrus}}, an {{W|Ancient Egyptian medicine|Egyptian surgical}} textbook, which applies: examination, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, to injuries,<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179901/Edwin-Smith-papyrus&ct= Edwin Smith papyrus], {{W|Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> paralleling rudimentary {{W|empirical method}}ology.<ref>Lloyd, G. E. R. "The development of empirical research", in his ''Magic, Reason and Experience: Studies in the Origin and Development of Greek Science''.</ref>
|-
| c. 624 - 548 || {{W|Thales}} raised the study of nature from the realm of the mythical to the level of empirical study.<ref name="Magill2003" />
|-
| c. 610 - 547 || {{W|Anaximander}} extends the idea of "law" to the physical world and uses maps and models.<ref name="Magill2003">{{cite book|last=Magill|first=Frank N.|title=The Ancient World: Dictionary of World Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_CMl8ziTbKYC|accessdate=9 March 2015|date=2003-12-16|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135457396}}</ref>
|-
| c. 400 BC || In {{W|China}}, {{W|Mozi}} and the {{W|School of Names}} advocate using one's senses to observe the world, and develop the "three-prong method" for testing the truth or falsehood of statements.
|-
| c. 400 BC || {{W|Democritus}} advocates {{W|inductive reasoning}} through a process of examining the causes of sensory perceptions and drawing conclusions about the outside world.
|-
| c. 400 BC || {{W|Plato}} first provides a detailed definitions for idea, matter, form and appearance as abstract concepts.
|-
| c. 320 BC || First comprehensive documents categorising and subdividing knowledge, dividing knowledge into different areas by {{W|Aristotle}},(physics, poetry, zoology, logic, rhetoric, politics, and biology). Aristotle's {{W|Posterior Analytics}} defends the ideal of science as necessary demonstration from axioms known with certainty. Aristotle believes that the world is real and that we can learn the truth by experience.<ref name="Gauch2003">{{cite book|last=Gauch|first=Hugh G.|title=Scientific Method in Practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iVkugqNG9dAC|accessdate=17 February 2015|year=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521017084}}</ref> Latin:experimentum
|-
| c. 341-270 || {{W|Epicurus}} scientific method with multiple variables.<ref name="Gauch2003" />
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| c. 300 BC || {{W|Euclid's Elements}} expound {{W|geometry}} as a system of {{W|theorems}} following logically from axioms known with certainty.
|-
| c. 240 BC || {{W|Eratosthenes}} best known for being the first person to calculate the {{W|History of geodesy#Hellenic world|circumference of the Earth}}, which he did by applying a measuring system using {{W|Stadion (unit)|stadia}}, which was a standard unit of measure during that time period. His calculation was remarkably accurate.
|-
| c. 200 BC || First {{W|Library catalog|Catalog}}ed {{W|library}} (at {{W|Alexandria}})
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| c. 150 BC || {{W|Book of Daniel}} describes a {{W|clinical trial}} proposed by Daniel in which he and his three companions eat vegetables and water for 10 days rather than the royal food and wine.
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| c. 90-168 || {{W|Claudius Ptolemy}}<ref name="Barker2000">{{cite book|last=Barker|first=Andrew|title=Scientific Method in Ptolemy's Harmonics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8e7GlFqcxPEC|accessdate=17 February 2015|year=2000|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521553728}}</ref>
|-
| c. 721-873 || {{W|Science in medieval Islam|Muslim scientists}} used {{W|experiment}} and {{W|Quantification (science)|quantification}} to distinguish between competing scientific theories, set within a generically {{W|empirical}} orientation, as can be seen in the works of {{W|Jābir ibn Hayyān}} (721–815)<ref>{{Citation | publisher = Clarendon Press | last = Holmyard | first = E. J. | title = Makers of Chemistry | location = Oxford | year = 1931 | url = https://archive.org/details/makersofchemistr029725mbp | page = 56}}</ref> and {{W|Al-Kindi|Alkindus}} (801–873)<ref name=Plinio-17>Plinio Prioreschi, "Al-Kindi, A Precursor Of The Scientific Revolution", ''Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine'', 2002 (2): 17–19 [17].</ref> as early examples.
|-
| 1021 || {{W|Ibn al-Haytham}} introduces the {{W|experimental method}} and combines {{W|observations}}, experiments and {{W|rational}} {{W|arguments}} in his ''{{W|Book of Optics}}''.
|-
| c. 1025 || {{W|Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī}}, develops experimental methods for {{W|mineralogy}} and {{W|mechanics}}, and conducts elaborate experiments related to {{W|Islamic astronomy|astronomical}} phenomena.
|-
| 1027 || In ''{{W|The Book of Healing}}'', {{W|Avicenna}} criticizes the {{W|Aristotelianism|Aristotelian}} method of {{W|inductive reasoning|induction}}, arguing that "it does not lead to the absolute, universal, and certain premises that it purports to provide", and in its place, develops {{W|Observational study|examination}} and experimentation as a means for scientific inquiry.
|-
| 1220–1235 || {{W|Robert Grosseteste}}, 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.<ref name="Ireland2000">{{cite book|last=Ireland|first=Maynooth James McEvoy Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy National University of|title=Robert Grosseteste|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ii3Rs56pE2wC&pg=PA197|accessdate=9 March 2015|date=2000-08-31|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195354171}}</ref>
|-
| 1265 || {{W|Roger Bacon}}, an English monk, inspired by the writings of Grosseteste, described a scientific method, which he based on a repeating cycle of observation, {{W|hypothesis}}, experimentation, and the need for independent {{W|Verification and validation|verification}}. He recorded the manner in which he conducted his experiments in precise detail so that others could reproduce and independently test his results.<ref name="Clegg2013">{{cite book|last=Clegg|first=Brian|title=Roger Bacon: The First Scientist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bTABAAAQBAJ&pg=PT134|accessdate=17 February 2015|date=2013-08-29|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9781472112125}}</ref>
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| 1327 || {{W|Ockham's razor}} clearly formulated (by {{W|William of Ockham}}) which states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
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| 1403 || {{W|Yongle Encyclopedia}}, the first collaborative {{W|encyclopedia}}
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| 1581 || {{W|Francisco Sanches}} uses classical skeptical arguments to show that science, in the Aristotelian sense of giving necessary reasons or causes for the behavior of nature, cannot be attained.
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| 1581 || {{W|Tycho Brahe}} builds large scale research facility, {{W|Stjerneborg}} dedicated to obtaining high precision measurements of the planets.
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| 1595 || {{W|Microscope}} invented in the {{W|Netherlands}}\
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| 1600 || First dedicated {{W|laboratory}}
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| 1608 || {{W|History of the telescope|Telescope}} invented in the {{W|Netherlands}}
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| 1620 || '{{W|Novum Organum}}'' published, ({{W|Francis Bacon}})
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| 1637 || First {{W|Discourse on the Method|Scientific method}} ({{W|René Descartes}})
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| 1638 || Galileo's {{W|Two New Sciences}} published, containing two {{W|thought experiment}}s, namely {{W|Galileo's Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment}} and {{W|Galileo's ship}}, which are intended to disprove existing physical theories by showing that they have contradictory consequences.
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| 1650 || Society of experts (the {{W|Royal Society}})
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| 1650 || {{W|Experimentation|Experimental}} evidence established as the arbiter of truth (the {{W|Royal Society}})
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| 1665 || {{W|Repeatability}} established ({{W|Robert Boyle}})
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| 1665 || {{W|Scientific journal|Scholarly journals}} established
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| 1675 || {{W|Peer review}} begun
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| 1687 || Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton)
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| 1739 || {{W|David Hume}}'s ''{{W|Treatise of Human Nature}}'' argues that the {{W|problem of induction}} is unsolvable.
|-
| 1753 || First description of a {{W|Experimental control|controlled experiment}} using identical populations with only one variable: {{W|James Lind}}'s research into {{W|Scurvy}} among sailors.<ref>{{W|James Lind}}'s ''A Treatise of the Scurvy''</ref>
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| 1763 || Reverend {{W|Thomas Bayes}} published ''{{W|An Essay towards solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances}}'' laying the basis for {{W|Bayesian inference}}, a method of inference used to update the probability estimate for a hypothesis as additional evidence is acquired.
|-
| 1812 || The formulation by {{W|Hans Christian Ørsted}} of the Latin-German mixed term ''Gedankenexperiment'' (lit. experiment conducted in the thoughts, or {{W|thought experiment}}). Although the method had been in use by philosophers since antiquity.
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| 1815 || An {{W|optimal design}} for {{W|polynomial regression}} is published by {{W|Joseph Diaz Gergonne}}.
|-
| 1833 || {{W|William Whewell}} invents the term {{W|scientist}}. They had previously been known as ''natural philosophers'' or ''men of science''.
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| 1840 || {{W|William Whewell}} in ''Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences'' coins the term "{{W|consilience}}" the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can "converge" to strong conclusions.
|-
| 1877–1878 || {{W|Charles Sanders Peirce}} publishes "Illustrations of the Logic of Science", popularizing his trichotomy of {{W|Abductive reasoning|Abduction}}, {{W|Deductive reasoning|Deduction}} and {{W|Inductive reasoning|Induction}}. <!-- in the last article of the series, where he uses "hypothesis" rather than "abduction" or "retroduction" and cites his earlier paper --> Peirce explains {{W|randomization}} as a basis for {{W|statistical inference}}.
|-
| 1885 || {{W|Charles Sanders Peirce|C. S. Peirce}} with {{W|Joseph Jastrow}} first describes {{W|Blind experiment|blinded}}, {{W|randomized experiment}}s, which become established in psychology.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Ian |last=Hacking | title=Telepathy: Origins of Randomization in Experimental Design|journal={{W|Isis (journal)|Isis}}|volume=79|issue=3: A Special Issue on Artifact and Experiment|date=September 1988 |pages=427–451|jstor=234674 | mr = 1013489| doi=10.1086/354775}}{{cite journal| author={{W|Charles Sanders Peirce}} and {{W|Joseph Jastrow}}|year=1885|title=On Small Differences in Sensation| journal=Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=3|pages=73–83|url=http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Peirce/small-diffs.htm}} http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Peirce/small-diffs.htm
{{cite journal|author={{W|Stephen M. Stigler}}|title=A Historical View of Statistical Concepts in Psychology and Educational Research| journal=American Journal of Education| volume=101|issue=1|date=November 1992|pages=60–70|doi=10.1086/444032}}
{{cite journal|author=Trudy Dehue|title=Deception, Efficiency, and Random Groups: Psychology and the Gradual Origination of the Random Group Design|journal={{W|Isis (journal)|Isis}}|volume=88|issue=4|date=December 1997|pages=653–673|doi=10.1086/383850|pmid=9519574}}</ref>
|-
| 1897 || {{W|Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin}} proposes the use of multiple hypotheses to assist in the design of experiments.
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| 1905 || {{W|Albert Einstein}} proposes the {{W|Theory of Relativity}}\<!-- *1908 — Three kinds of logical reasoning, {{W|Abductive reasoning|Abduction}}, {{W|Deductive reasoning|Deduction}} and {{W|Inductive reasoning|Induction}} identified by {{W|Charles Sanders Peirce}} (1839-1914) -->
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| 1926 || {{W|Completely Randomized Design|Randomized design}} popularized and analyzed by {{W|Ronald Fisher}} (following {{W|Charles Sanders Peirce|Peirce}})
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| 1934 || {{W|Falsifiability}} as a criterion for evaluating new hypotheses is popularized by {{W|Karl Popper}}'s ''{{W|The Logic of Scientific Discovery}}'' (following {{W|Charles Sanders Peirce|Peirce}})
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| 1937 || Controlled {{W|Placebo effect|placebo}} trial
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| 1946 || First {{W|computer simulation}}
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| 1950 || {{W|Double blind experiment}}
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| 1962 || {{W|Meta study}} of scientific method ({{W|Thomas Kuhn}}'s ''{{W|The Structure of Scientific Revolutions}}'')
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| 1964 || {{W|Strong inference}} proposed by John R. Platt<ref>In ''Strong inference. Certain systematic methods of scientific thinking may produce much more rapid progress than others'' (Science, 16 October 1964, Volume 146, Number 3642, Pages 347-353.)</ref>
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| 2009 || {{W|Adam (robot)|Adam}} - First working prototype of a "robot scientist" able to perform independent experiments to test hypotheses and interpret findings without human guidance.
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| 2012 || {{W|Constructor theory}}, a proposal for a new mode of explanation in fundamental physics, was first sketched out by {{W|David Deutsch}}.
|}


== Meta information on the timeline ==

=== Acknowledgement ===
[[User:Mati Roy]] imported the Wikipedia page [[wikipedia:Timeline of the history of scientific method|timeline of the scientific method]] on July 23rd 2019.

== References ==
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